And Then There Were Four
by Red Priest
Summary: Revan and Malak find themselves in a galaxy filled with the weak. They set about the bringing about the fall of the Galactic Empire, drawing conflict with its powerful leaders, Darths Sidious and Vader. A treacherous rebellion rises up, and the four Dark Lords begin a fierce struggle for power.
1. A Long Time

**Author's Note: **Hey there. Thanks for clicking! So this will be a limited story of around fifteen to twenty chapters. I don't want to say much about the plot, but I'll give you a few details. It is set just before Episode IV, perhaps even a just a few weeks short of the beginning. Everything in-world up until this point is the same, entirely respecting the canon. Revan and Malak's attack went ahead, and things proceeded as they should. There will be an explanation as to how they are here too, and that will come later. Expect characters from the films to appear eventually. Enjoy! Reviews would make me happy, but it's your area of expertise!

* * *

**PART I  
****FAR TIME**

* * *

Light roared up around the two Sith Lords, and then the cave was still and quiet.

"Where did they go? Where did our soldiers go?"

Revan felt faint, like the world had recalibrated around him – no, like all existence had, in a dizzying flash. He was visibly staggered but his instincts told him to show no weakness. Their squadron of fifteen was gone, and for all Revan knew some ancient Sith spirit lurked in the shadows of the tomb, with foul intentions on them.

Malak gripped his arm. "Revan. Where have they gone?"

"I don't know."

"This place feels changed. Like it was drained of power. Do you feel it?"

Revan nodded, hand falling to the hilt of his lightsaber. The light from outside had faded, the tomb-cave was now only very dimly lit. "We should leave," Revan said, uneasy. "There is something dark at work here. Something far more potent than either of us."

Malak laughed shortly. "I find that difficult to believe."

Revan made for the exit, hand still resting against the hilt, but no conflicts presented themselves. Long and winding paths remained long and winding, but not once did Revan sense a threat. He and Malak were the only threats on Korriban now, though he felt that there was little here to threaten. As the two exited the tomb, he reached out with the Force and felt nothing. Revan could usually feel the presence of droid soldiers, especially those made by the Star Forge, but now, nothing.

"Look." Revan pointed in the distance, to where their ship should have been. Minutes ago, Korriban had been crawling with troops of all shapes, a war delegation.

Darth Malak's face twisted into an expression of indignation and rage, his master could feel it resonating from him like a dark heat. "Are you saying they abandoned us?"

"No. I told you to _look_. Our footprints were pressed hard into the sand by our boots, the tracks of the droids. They're gone. I think we've been… put in some kind of stasis."

"_Stasis?_ We are their _leader_, they cannot leave us –"

"They have, Malak. Come. We have to find another way of this planet." Revan started walking around a set of cliffs that loomed large and overhead. The terrain looked different – eroded. Malak said nothing, following him all the way. Revan could typically sense his apprentice's thoughts, at least dimly, but he was screening himself off. _He thinks that I am behind this, somehow... He is the least of my worries._

Around the corner, the great cliffs stood high and on top of them – nothing. The Emperor's fortress was nowhere to be seen, the Sith Academy too was gone. It was as though Korriban's structures had all fallen away into the earth and been replaced by an atmosphere of decay and disrepair. The paths were all still there, but they had not been used in a long time.

"What will we do?"

"There is only one thing we can do," Revan replied, reaching into his belt. "We must send out a beacon." He pressed a button on the device and bleeped shortly a few times, flashing red.

Malak moved to stand in front of his master. "And then?"

"Even Sith Lords cannot leave a planet with no means, Malak. We wait."

His apprentice's jaw clenched tightly. "The Star Forge – the _maps_..."

"Will have to wait even longer, I expect." Revan shrugged.

He reached out into space, feeling with the beacon. For hours he stood as Malak skulked around, never able to stand in one place for long. He used the Force and propelled himself around for miles, looking for any trace. Each time he returned all he had to show was more sand on his armoured robes.

_Nothing_, for a long time. Only lifeless space.

_Nothing_, for a long time. Only the cold.

And then – _something_.

Malak did not feel it; his concentration was elsewhere.

In the scattered blue sky a ship emerged, descending to their location.

"Coincidence that someone finds us. This place is barren."

Revan smirked at his apprentice, something that irritated him – but the master was playful, even to an apprentice that resented him. "There is no coincidence, Malak. Only the will of the Force."

"You sound like a Jedi."

"We _were_ Jedi. We've left their order, but their teachings – the ones with _value_ – don't have to be abandoned too."

The ship came out of the sky swiftly. Something didn't seem right about the make of the ship; where curves should have been were straight lines. Mounted canons were underneath the vessel, and a red insignia that he did not recognise. The pilot on board the ship wasn't visible at the window when it landed, clearly already moved to the door. Revan and Malak walked to the back.

"We kill him?"

"Not until we find out what's going on here."

A period of silence ensued, and then the ship let out a hiss of air and the back lowered into a slope. At the top stood a small, stubby man. He was smiling until the full forms of the Sith Lords settled on him, and then, slowly, he began to move backwards. His hand reached up to close the ramp and stop, but Revan reached out and his arm stopped, unable to move. The man's eyes were pried apart as if they couldn't close, an expression of utter fear.

Revan did not let the man move. "Do you know who we are?"

"Agents of the Emperor... please, don't hurt me…"

Malak stood a step onto the ramp. "Why are you here on Korriban? Do you have clearance?"

"Clearance? No, no – there is no clearance needed for – these systems are unrestricted, nobody comes here, my lords..."

"Where is the Emperor?"

The man's brow glistened with sweat and the bulge of his throat quaked, threatening to collapse. "His Great Imperial Majesty Palp—"

"_Quicker_," Malak spat.

"—sorry, my lords, my apologies. He is in his Imperial Palace. Always."

Revan nodded. "What do you do?"

"I'm a – prospector, sir."

"A scavenger," Malak sneered. "You are here to loot the empty tombs of great Sith Lords, men and women that have more power in death than you could ever have garnered in your life."

The scavenger stared at the floor, face flushed red and wet with hot tears. "Yes, my lord. Scum. Truly, but spare me."

"You will have a choice," Revan said casually and walked onto the ship. He glanced around; there were a few artefacts of note on the ship, though nothing that gave off a dark sense of foreboding like he had received before the soldiers disappeared. "We take your ship and leave you here on this planet with a distress beacon, or we can take your life and leave your body here. I don't see any use in killing you. The choice will be yours." Revan's eyes met Malak's briefly. "And yours alone."

There was a long silence, and then the prospector spoke. His voice was shaky, but his decision final. "Life, merciful lord. I pick life."

As the two Sith Lords left Korriban, Revan reached out for the presence of the smuggler… and felt nothing. A neck snapped in secret by the Force as the doors closed. He looked at his apprentice and his apprentice looked back.

"Where to?" Malak asked.

"To the Emperor. Dromund Kaas."

* * *

They flew for a long time. For whatever reason, the smuggler's ship didn't list Dromund Kaas. Revan remembered the coordinates, however vaguely, but when the great purple planet came into sight, lightning storms so large they were visible in space, they had to fly to it manually. Reaching out through the Force was pointless for the first time – the planet's concentration of Force relics and temples and lightning storms made it seem as though the entire Sith and Jedi Orders were based on the planet perpetually.

"Does this feel off to you, master?"

Revan looked over his shoulder at the ship behind him and then back out the main window. "What do you mean – the fact that we lost a fleet, didn't find the map to the Star Forge, felt the atmosphere of Korriban change around us, misplace the Emperor's structures or begin to fly a ship that is unfamiliar to me, a ship specialist?"

"All of the above."

"I'd venture a _yes_."

"If there is some treachery and the Sith Emperor has betrayed us –"

"Hold your tongue, Malak, otherwise it is you who speaks _treason_."

The ship wasn't fitted with anti-Force storm measures and so, when the ship broke past the atmosphere of the planet on its descent into Kaas City, it broke with considerable shake. The entire vessel began to tremble and shake, like an earthquake in the sky. Purple clouds gave wide birth to forked streaks of purple lightning.

_They part the clouds, splitting them into sections, like scars in flesh_, Revan thought. The city came into focus soon enough, but landing in its center was a suicidal move. Proton-neutron canons – names that Revan personally did not think made any sense at all – would lock onto the foreign vessels descending above the Emperor's Palace and blast them from the sky.

During the Mandalorian Wars, Revan's personal fighter had come under attack. As a last resort from the ground plasma mortars (once again on the name front), instinct had forced Revan to create a Force shield around the fighter. It had taken considerable force to manage and hold it, especially in flight, but maintaining it saved his life, and helped to end the Mandalorian threat.

And now, on the descent, he wondered where the Mandalorians were now. _Licking their wounds and swearing a wrathful vengeance, I expect._

"I hope he has answers."

Revan nodded and looked for the trigger to active the landing gear. It was a switch, which was unusual – typically, Revan found it was a button on the main console. Instinct gripped him like madness and he reached out, probing the planet.

"There are six people here."

Malak laughed. "I should think so, master."

"You misunderstand me. Look outside, Malak. Not with your eyes. All you will see there is glass and concrete and lightning. Look out _further_."

Malak closed his eyes and took a deep breath. Thinking was not something Malak did often, much less probe a scene for life. It felt as though an eternity passed before his eyes snapped open and darted to his master. They looked worried and, if Revan's eyes were not deceiving him, tinged with confusion and fear.

"I do not understand. They are –"

"All the same, yes. Six forms of life, all identical."

"Clones?"

Revan rose from his seat on the left of the ship and made his way to the rear end, Malak following in tow. "I expect we will soon find out."

* * *

Outside the ship they stood at the top of a hill. Kaas City was balanced at the highest point on Dromund Kaas; the Emperor had ordered it done for a specific purpose. Revan hoped to feel the Force all around him, like the air was a safety cushion moulded to his body. He hoped that it would be in his blood, making it boil with power.

His hopes were broken by the faint taste of the Force in the air; the lingering remnants of a planet abandoned long ago.

"The Emperor is not here."

"The smuggler told us—!"

"The smuggler _lied_," Revan interrupted. "Or we did not pick him up clearly. His palace must have moved. Come, into Kaas City."

The ship had been landed just outside the city's main borders. Long durasteel walls surrounded the entire city, from the front gates to the east and the mile beyond the Imperial Palace. For times of war the walls themselves were fitted with canons on rear side. Revan didn't know if they'd been used recently, nor if they'd been used in the past. A Twi'lek slave, one that didn't divulge her name, told he and Malak about the canons.

Up went the ship's bridge and a click confirmed it locked. The two Sith Lords walked in broad strides to the main opening of the city, and they were some way into the city when the voices became audible. The voices sounded familiar – so familiar, in fact, that soon Revan realised they were all the same voice, put out through a helmet of some sort.

Malak looked at Revan. "Do you feel it?"

"I do. Six of them."

"They are weak." Malak clenched his fist. "We can take them."

Revan glared at his apprentice. _Fool._ "Whoever they are, they may have information we need."

Revan moved up to the city corner. Once, the building had been an old cantina filled with people of all shades and species. Now, peering past the door, he could see only thick layers of dust and dead neon signs. Cautiously, he looked around the corner.

"—I'm afraid to touch it."

"—just pick it up."

"It's hot."

Malak was at his side, nudging at him. "Do you feel it?"

Revan's eyes squinted. "I can see it."

In the middle of the soldiers – outfitted in white – was a relic. A relic of the dark side, one that Revan could feel nudging at him through space. At his side he could feel Malak tensing in the force; he felt it too. Both of them exchanged a long look, and they stepped out from the corner.

It took a few seconds before all of the soldiers had turned. Their combat armour was white all over, panelled with duraplastic. Hands went for blasters sooner than Revan expected – their reflexes were quick.

"Freeze!"

"What _are_ they?!"

"Sith ghosts. Blast 'em!"

A barrage of red came towards the Sith, and they made short work of them. They flew towards them with high rage burning inside them, all the fury of the Dark Side of the Force. Revan twisted at their minds and sent them towards each other, slaying them. Malak seemed to prefer a personal touch, laying waste to them with a streaking red blade slashing across their throats.

"Leave one alive!" Revan commanded and lifted one with the Force, throwing him against a nearby building. He crumpled into an unconscious heap whilst the Sith Lords killed the others.

When their corpses were finished smouldering, Revan stowed away his lightsaber and strode over to the lone soldier. "You have a choice, soldier," he said, "you can tell us what we need to know and your death will be quick and painless, or I will set my apprentice upon you. He would enjoy that, you would not. Speak."

The soldier, outfitted in white, began to sit up straight against the wall. Revan couldn't see his eyes, but he knew they were searching for a blaster that would not help him. Slowly, he slid off the ground and hovered a few inches above it. Even beneath his mask, Revan could hear him choking. "I'll talk!" He fell.

"Then talk. Don't keep us waiting. You may think it will prolong your life, but if I sense you hesitating… I will fry you."

"You are mighty, for ghosts," the trooper said. "Just don't hurt me."

"_Ghosts?_ You insolent–"

"Quiet, Malak. You call us ghosts. Why?"

"That mask," the soldier said, staring directly at Revan. "It hasn't been seen for–"

"Enough of us," Malak interrupted. "Where is the Sith Emperor?"

"Emperor Palpatine? He is… in his palace."

Revan shook his head and reached for his lightsaber. He did not intend to kill the soldier, not yet, but he had to frighten him a little into talking more and quicker. "His palace is here. We cannot sense him."

"Palace? No, this is an old place… we are… scouts, sent here to retrieve… something powerful. A relic. Please, don't hurt me."

"Where is his palace now?"

"… Coruscant."

The soldier's head snapped to the left and his neck broke. He slouched, dead. Revan whirled on his apprentice, angry that he would make a move without instruction. "You should do what you are told, Malak. We are in wild space here. Hold your temper back, or I'll leave you on Dromund Kaas to rot."

"He told us what we needed to know! Coruscant… Palpatine? That must be the same he is using for himself. If he has a hold on Coruscant, we must have been frozen in time temporarily, or sent forward a few years. It seems clear to me what we must do – go to Coruscant, and find a new objective."

Malak spoke true. They had little choice but to go to Coruscant now, seek out the Sith Emperor and ask for new instructions. Still, something did not feel right, even if Malak couldn't sense it. Dromund Kaas felt different, and it was not just the absence of the Emperor. Korriban too.

"Coruscant we must go," Revan concluded, but they took the trooper's ship. It would fare better for such long travel, and the location of Coruscant would be more accurate in its positioning systems. They would encounter far less resistance if they stuck to the ways of this new world…

Even as they flew through space, one thing lay heavily on Revan's mind. Something that the trooper had said.

_That mask_, he had said. _It hasn't been seen for…_

Why has it not been seen? What did he know?

The two Sith Lords flew towards the center of the galaxy; tiny stars in the distance were only flecks in the great darkness.


	2. The Rule of Two

**THE RULE OF TWO**

* * *

"Stormtroopers, they call themselves. Ridiculous name," Revan heard Malak say.

Malak was looking through the files the ship had on-board; it wasn't connected up to the Holonet, however, so the information was largely outdated. Revan stood in the small ship's minute armoury, near the rear. Their equipment did not look too different from what Revan had seen before, but the differences were noticeable enough for him to pick up on. Small things, mostly; upgraded blaster chips, aiming protocols. He let loose a few blaster bolts into the white armour they had all worn, and found that they stood up against it surprisingly well.

Revan had taken his mask off and stowed it inside his battle robes. What the soldier – _No, the stormtrooper_ – had said was still bothering him. Even the way fear had rose off him like a cold heat did not feel right to Revan, though you might expect he would be adapted to it as a Dark Lord of the Sith.

_They thought we were ghosts, bound to Dromund Kaas… but why? It makes no sense. How long have we been gone for? _If his mask was remembered, surely he must have made an impression. He left the armoury and looked down the craft at Malak, who was standing at a control panel, inspecting a galaxy map. Nothing seemed changed about that.

Malak's face was unshielded by any mask, he saw no need for one. His skin was of an olive complexion; his head streaked with four blue bars that moved across his scalp, from forehead to the back of his neck. Revan had no asked what their purpose was, though he suspected an aesthetic choice on Malak's behalf of some sort – however unlikely it seemed of Malak to do so. _To make him different, perhaps._

The command console bleeped, getting both of the Sith Lords' attention. Revan approached it first and sat down. Two seats for pilots there were, but Malak deigned not to sit. He activated the communicator.

"You have requested landing clearance on Coruscant. State your purpose."

Malak looked as though he about to rise in temper, but Revan quietened him. _This would best be handled with tact. _"Do you see the purpose of our ship on your records?"

"No, sir. We do not."

"And yet, this is a vessel registered to the – Empire?" He almost doubted the last word, but the Emperor would not approve any other form of government. It was not the Sith way.

"Yes, sir. This vessel is appropriated by the Imperial Hand–"

"Enough has been said then, I think. Accept out clearance."

Static hissed quietly away from the other side of the line, and Revan thought they might actually refuse him, but then they said, "Clearance granted. Welcome to the Capital."

Revan shut off the communicator and sent the ship in for landing. From above, the planet was an immense, glimmering sight. From hundreds of miles away if often appeared like a star, but up close, it seemed like a planet filled with stars on its surface. Light streaked in rows against its surface, dotted with yellow and red and green. That had not changed either, Revan thought, but something _did _seem different about it. Where the planet had once been the centre of the Light, now it seemed to channel the Dark.

Malak sat down at his side. "How will you know where he is?" The ship began to tremble lightly against the turbulence from entering the atmosphere, but for the most part it was outfitted against it well.

"The Imperial Palace will be where the old Republic Senate once was. The Emperor would want to plant the symbol of his victory in their enemy's grave."

This was a guess, in truth, but Malak did not need to know that. Revan was following a light path of dark side energies that he could trace through the atmosphere and down, carving its way across the planet. They seemed faint, as if hidden from view. Surely, if the Emperor had seized control from the Republic, he would make his presence as a Sith Lord known throughout all the galaxy. _It seems he is using tactics I am not familiar with._

They found the Imperial Palace in little time at all. Even among the immense scrapers of the ecumenopolis, it was a behemoth. Three giant spires rose up from the ground, all dwarfing everything around them. The spires were spiked at the peak, and around them were giant rings, an observation tower. On the ground was the main palace; a giant cuboid that rose up four, five stories.

Revan drew in the craft to land at the main pads, just outside the immense walls. Landing inside them without clearance would be challenging; there would be systems in place to guard the Emperor, blasting ships apart that came too close. He did not know this for sure, but that's what Revan would have done.

"Come."

"Are you not going to wear your mask? It is proof of your identity."

Revan shook his head and said, "No. He will know it is me when he feels our presence in the Force. He should feel us even at this distance… He did when we first came to Dromund Kaas."

The Sith Lords strode off the ship and through the main gates. Nobody blocked their presence then, but people were looking. Large expanses of grass – maybe even the only real green life on the planet – sat on each side of the path. People of all species stood in small groups, eyeing them as they walked past.

"Do they recognise us?"

Revan shook his head, watching them as carefully as they did back. "No. I do not think so. We have plain faces."

Next he noticed the Twi'leks, standing around. _They were no chains_, he noticed. On Dromund Kaas, the species had always been slaves, since they were found. Revan himself did not personally approve of slavery much, but it would be a very different empire entirely were they to be freed – maybe they would rebel. Something about the situation struck Revan as odd.

"Do you see them?"

"I do."

"Is this a trick of some sort?" Revan could feel Malak's hesitation; he shared it, in truth, but he would not show it. This was not the time. "Conceal your emotions for now, Malak. This is not the time."

Red guards spread across the entrance to the palace. Their uniforms were reminiscent of the style the Sith Lords were familiar with; they held onto electrostaffs tightly. _I would bet they are highly trained_, he thought_, but they are not Sith, and they cannot stop us._

"Stop," one said, standing forward. The entrance was great, but the guards were many. His face was bare and young, and his eyes were a light yellow, flecked with the dark side. _He trains them how to power themselves with it, _Revan noted, _but they are not warriors. _Near the back, one of them began to tremble slightly. Their lightsabers were hidden away, unseen by them, but even their robes suggested their purpose – to breed terror.

"You seek to command us?" Malak laughed. "Do you know who we are?"

"We are the Dark Lords Revan and Malak. We seek council with the Emperor." _Palpatine_, Revan remembered.

A little wave of laughter went through the guards, and a radiance of heat came from Malak. Revan gave him a look, and he calmed. Still, the guards seemed to feel it, backing off. It would not hurt to make an entrance. The guard who spoke before rose a few feet above the ground and clutched for his throat. The others, clearly not used to tricks of the Force, backed off, shouting for his release. Revan obliged.

"Please," he spluttered, breathless, "come inside and wait. We must seek an audience with His Eminence."

They were led into the main chambers. Surprisingly bare of people, they were outfitted with immense drapery – red was the most prominent colour in the steely environment. No pictures of the Emperor himself hung on the walls, nor the Dark Council. Across the room, bureaucrats of different species watched them, hovering slightly above their chairs and behind their desks. Their presence, it seemed, was not expected, and being met with much hostility.

"Is this some test?" Malak asked.

"I do not know. We will wait."

"_Wait? _For these pathetic, low-born…"

"For the Emperor."

Malak quietened at that. Even he was not foolish enough to argue with the notion that the Sith Emperor was more powerful than he would ever become, but it did not quell a small rage inside him. Revan wondered if it might be prudent to leave him outside when he spoke to the Emperor, lest he would feel his rage, and perhaps punish them. The two Sith Lords would have to approach this very carefully.

On the flight here, he'd thought briefly about what they would say to the Emperor, though nothing stuck in his mind. His true hope was that the Emperor would be able to shed some light on what had happened to them, were it possible. _He is powerful, yes, and he must have some idea. He would have searched for us… everywhere, scoured the galaxy._

The guards came back soon, this time calmed. Revan reached out and felt for the origin, and detected that it was the Force. _This is a powerful emperor_, he knew, _but something about it feels different. Foreign to me_. Malak did not share his worries, but he too was trying to calm himself. He spoke first.

"And?"

"His Eminence would ask questions. He has been expecting you for some time."

Something felt wrong.

"I would think so," Malak said. "Where is he?"

"He asks that I ask and gather your answers, for now. He is somewhat busy. Did you complete your mission?"

"I must have misheard you," Malak said. "The Emperor does not wish to _see us?_"

"Yes. That is correct. Your mission, I asked. Was it successful?"

Revan and Malak shared a look and communicated a single thought. They reached out with the Dark Side of the Force and, one by one, they slaughtered every red guard that came at them. Malak went a little further, bringing down those who posed no threat. Not once did they bring out their lightsabers – it was lightning that did their work, and the Pushing power of the Force. Skulls burst against walls, blood gutted out across the floor. More came, but they moved on forward, carving the way.

A few of the guards came at them with their electrostaffs, twirling and launching towards them, but the two Sith Lords pushed them away. Some would survive the ordeal, Revan knew, and later would call their loss a victory for the empire. Things would change. _This must be a pretender_, he thought. _No emperor of mine would resort to such brutish manipulation tactics. _

As they carved their way through the corridors, Revan sensed the dark side growing stronger and he began to doubt himself. There was a powerful Force presence in this building, indeed, and if it truly was the Sith Emperor, he would punish Revan and Malak for their insolence and brutality. _I see no other choice to discover the truth. _

The entrance to the Throne Room was a thick door.

"We will burn our way through that door," Malak said, reaching for his lightsaber, but there would be no need. The doors opened onto a dark, dark room, the very air around them abuzz with a blue electric hum.

The two Sith Lords entered the Throne Room. An immediate flight of stairs, very steep, gave way to a platform. High balconies, empty but for command consoles, ran the full way around the top of the room. Slowly, Revan and Malak made their way up the stairs. Both were hesitant to move fast. On the way up, they heard a deep, intoned breathing. It was paced and measured, like that of a machine.

"Welcome, old allies," a high, croaked voice said. "I wonder, did you identify yourself true?"

Revan nodded. "We did."

The chair moved around slowly and revealed a small man, outfitted in a deep black robe. At the sleeves it was slashed with a midnight purple. His face was hidden in the dark of the robe, but faintly, yellow eyes stared out from it. This was not the Sith Emperor they knew, but another. Powerful, yes, but in different ways. At his side, something moved, something Revan had not even seen. A man in shining black armour.

"Darth Revan," the Emperor said, "and Darth _Malak_."

"Yes."

"What brings you thousands of years into the future?"

Revan staggered back. "You lie."

The Emperor rose to his feet, laughing, and Revan saw Malak fall back, in line with his master. "I assure you, no lies can be found in this room." The cyborg at his side straightened up and came forward with the emperor. "You are out of time, it seems. I cannot say how, though I wish I could. Are you ghosts? Apparitions of the Force? No, that would not make sense. You would be bound to a planet, at least. The ship you came from was sent by me to Dromund Kaas, so you came from there."

Revan decided not to correct him. His mind was reeling from the news, everything was fitting into place, however slowly. "We disappeared from our pasts?" Keeping calm was important. Malak was not hot with anger this time, no, he was simply confused.

"I do not think so, otherwise the world we live in would be very different. You lived out your lives as you should have." The yellow eyes lingered on Malak. "As short as they were." He smiled. "So you are not rebel spies as I suspected. Pieces of yourselves have become dislodged in time, and here you are. Are you minds as unhinged as your bodies?"

"Hold your tongue, snake," Revan said.

"You are not worthy of the title Emperor," Malak said. "We have seen a true emperor. You are a shadow."

The emperor laughed. "Do you hear this, Vader? These ghosts mock us." His eyes narrowed and dark fury emanated from him. He nodded his head slightly and legions of red guards appeared at on the balconies. "This is some accident of the Force, a hiccup, with no rhyme behind it. You will have to die, or the balance will be disturbed. _Two there shall be_, _one to embody the power, and the other to crave it_. I have read the stories, Revan. You were among the most mighty, the most powerful, but it seems moving through time has... lessened you."

Revan did not recognise what this emperor was quoting, but he took insult to the last part. In truth, moving through time had lessened his power. "Name yourselves."

The Emperor's stooped posture seemed to straighten, enough to make Revan doubt his choice to enter. "You do not command the leader of the Galactic Empire, and the reigning Dark Lord of the Sith Darth Sidious!"

His hands sent a barrage of Force lightning towards the two Sith Lords, and they took it. Malak and Revan were lifted off their feet and filled with painful, searing currents. More came at them, but their sabers were out – blocking it, absorbing it. _These are powerful weapons, but he is a powerful foe._ Their lightsabers flickered off once or twice, and the lightning burned at Revan. Malak felt the same.

The lightning stopped. A blade of red went up from the man to the Emperor's side – _Vader _– and another went up from the Emperor himself. "You will die here, ghosts. _Two there shall be,_" he quoted once again, like it was some scripture. "_Four there shall not._" He laughed shrilly. "Kill them. Kill them both."

Bolts of red came at them from all angles, pushing the two Sith Lords – no matter how powerful they may be. They were backing off, trying to deflect all the bolts, but some found their marks. Revan waved a hand backwards and the doors opened. They fled.

Down long corridors they went, chased by the Emperor's guard. Malak did not even have time to slay who they passed, only force them into walls to clear a path. A shuttle greeted them – one more royal, more outfitted than the rest. Revan twisted at the door with the Force; it gave a shrill, metallic cry and came off. They jumped inside and Malak set about activating the ship and its shields.

The guards were not long behind, but the weapons they fired were useless. Revan stood at the back of the ship, door open, projecting a field of the Force out, sending the bolts awry. A disturbance ebbed at him, however, and as the shuttle lifted off the ground, a small figure robed in black exited the building. _Do your worst._ Darth Sidious's arms rose up, and the entire ship jerked to a stop.

"MASTER!" Malak called from inside the ship.

"I'm working on it."

He reached out for the Emperor's mind, and found it. A twisted, blackened thing with only love for power. It struggled against him. They warped and bent their minds against one another, cluster headaches erupting in each of them, but the ship did not move. He was cold and powerful and frightening, and his fury at being disrespected was immense. Revan probed out further. He saw flashes out of the Emperor's eyes; the man in armour, Anakin Skywalker, stood to his side. He watched as the Emperor fought, not intervening.

Revan was back, looking out of his own eyes again, seeing down. Red bolts still came at the ship, some coming into contact. The Sith Lords locked their wills and then, out of the corner of Revan's eye, he saw Malak. A pillar to the right of the Emperor and this Skywalker crumbled apart, and the Emperor was forced to move. The shuttle jerked forward and rushed up, up, up, propelled by the Force, way from the Emperor.

The last Revan saw of the Emperor was him staring up; all that distance away, and he could still see his eyes, glowing.

Without even having fully left the planet, they jumped into hyperspace, away from the Empire. "He was powerful," Revan said, sitting down Malak, his co-pilot. Malak's forehead was kneaded with beads of sweat, and his own hair was damp. He needed to rest. More than anything, they needed to hide.

"He is unworthy. An old man and a robot. They do not deserve the titles of Dark Lords of the Sith. We have to strike at them, master. We have to wrestle the titles from their corpses. Do you think what he said is true? That we are weaker here?"

He hung his head, thinking. "Yes. He is correct. Moving has... done something. It is this galaxy. It has changed us, made us less powerful. There is only one way to solve that problem."

"By killing them both, and claiming the full power of the Force."

Revan nodded. With this, he agreed, but it would have to be done in the right way, or chaos would ensue. "I agree, but not assassination."

"Manipulation is the way of the Sith! If we can take it, we are worthy…"

"That may be the case, Malak, but we don't know how this galaxy operates. Customs may be different. Twi'leks walk free, though I doubt many other species do. No empire can succeed with the suppression of a few species, and this… Darth _Sidious_ does not seem to be the most kind of emperors. I doubt he is loved. There will be a rebellion, somewhere."

"What do you mean to do?"

Revan stared out at the blurring white lines that rushed past from hyperspace. "I mean to take its leadership," he said. "But first, we must find it."

* * *

**Author's Note: **It's been brought up that Revan and Malak are less powerful than they should be, and I completely agree, but they kind of _have_ to be, otherwise there are major plot problems. I've worked this into the plot - not only do they realise that they are less powerful, but they see Vader and Sidious as the reasons _for_ this. This lack of incredible power drives them, and the need to reclaim it.


	3. On The Run

**Author's Note: **And here we are again. I'm really surprised by the rate at which I'm moving these chapters, but that's what happens when you've got a lot of passion for a story. I hope you share it! Let me know what you think of the chapter and the story so far.

* * *

**ON THE RUN**

* * *

The _Lambda-_class T-4a shuttle pulled out of hyperspace somewhere nondescript, above a blue-hued planet Revan did not recognise, so that he could deal with the tracking systems. He searched the entire ship and found two of them, a primary and a back-up. Malak joined him in looking for more, but that seemed to be the last of them. Still, it would not hurt to be careful.

"The loss of our powers troubles me," Malak said. He was searching behind the main navigation console whilst Revan looked underneath the floor, probing with the Force for any kind of private, closed-loop system. It would not be secret if it connected to the ship's central network.

"And me," Revan intoned, "but there's nothing we can do."

"We can seek out holocrons! Can you imagine what secrets may be undisturbed on this world? We could return to Korriban. Set up a base there."

_Fool_, Revan thought, but said nothing. His apprentice was too careless; rash and headstrong and quick to anger, he would never simply open a door where he could knock it down. _If you thought more you would see the problem._ "Sidious will sent scouts to Dromund Kaas to search for evidence of our presence. They will use our ship and track it back to the dead Stormtroopers, and then they will find the ship we took from the merchant. It will lead them back to Korriban, and the corpse we left there. Korriban is not safe."

Malak was silenced, and Revan kept searching. Finding nothing, he pushed himself out of the ship's underbelly and joined Revan on the main deck. It was small in here; the part of the room designed for comfort was the main lounge deck; a part down a small flight of stairs. This ship was clearly designed for the Emperor, and for him alone. His quarters had only one seat. It seemed this Darth Sidious did not relish visitors.

"Where are we going, master?"

Revan glanced at his apprentice and then looked around the shuttle for something that could use the Holonet. Perhaps it would be inadvisable to link themselves to the Net so soon, but it could not wait. He needed a planet that lacked ties to the Empire, if such a thing existed. Soon enough he found one, and Malak rose, standing behind and watching over his shoulder.

Very few of the files were unencrypted, but enough that he could gather information. Revan was not foolish; he could not dismiss the idea that they were watching somehow, so he ordered up a list of unaffiliated or enemy planets. There weren't many in their range, most would require them to land first and refuel, something that wasn't an option. _Sidious' personal shuttle would not go unnoticed. Refuelling is not an option. We pick a destination and stick with it._

It took a few more minutes before he selected one. Malak paced the ship, impatient. When Revan moved away from the console, Malak rushed up to see which planet he had selected.

"Alderaan?" he asked. "A planet of trees and flying beasts and in-fighting. There is no information to be had there."

Revan looked back as he made his way to the console, with a raised eyebrow. Malak, tensed and partly enraged by such a small thing, stood up straighter. "I cannot be sure they are not monitoring HoloNet transmissions, and so I've left that up as our probable destination to throw them off."

"Where are we going then?"

"Not far off. I will fly past Alderaan to make it seem even more likely, and then cut off all outside communications." For all intents and purposes, the ship would be fully able to fly through space, but its connectivity to the Net would be disabled; they would rely entirely on their own astronavigation skills. Luckily, Revan was more than a competent flier, as was his apprentice.

"We will be flying bind." Malak continued to read the file on Alderaan. "There is an operation over Alderaan. Something highly classified. Did you see?"

"I did. Another reason to avoid it – a planet with high imperial presence is one we should try to avoid. No doubt they caught our faces on some surveillance. They'll pass out our faces."

"Should we not go to a planet with no imperial affiliation?"

Revan shook his head. _Think_, he wanted to say. _Think and stop asking questions. _"No, Malak. On a planet like that, all we will find is rumours. We go to a world where imperial influence is treated as hostile, and we're far more likely to get information." His apprentice nodded, understanding at last.

The shuttle launched back into hyperspace, aimed for galactic quadrant grid M-10, _Alderaan_. Though he expected it, the ship did not even shudder slightly as it took off, cutting through space with no trouble at all. Light blurred all around the main window, and it took off. "Help me locate all links to the outside Net. The might be changed, but you will know it when you see it."

Malak had always been a talented engineer, both electrical and otherwise. Revan wasn't sure how far technology had advanced in this new galaxy, but it didn't seem like _enough_. He still suspected there was some trickery that he did not yet realise, but things did seem to be in order. He highly doubted someone would go to such extremes to trick him, but he had no way to be sure. For now, caution and vigilance were allies.

They reached Alderaan in a few hours, and Revan set about destroying all of the Net connections they'd discovered in that time. It did not take long, but something distracted Malak.

"Master… Master come here."

Revan joined him on the main deck and looked out, across space. In the distance a moon hovered, just before the sight horizon of space, close enough for them to see… but it was no moon. A black, moon-shaped space station with an indented eye and a circularly indented ring hovered. "What is that?"

Revan reached out across space to probe at it, but his Force reach could not extend that far. True, they could have flown closer, but that would have been unwise. The design suggested a foul purpose. "I do not think it's a humanitarian effort," he said, and rushed back to cut the remaining cords. "Go now," he shouted, unwilling to wait longer. "Before something comes from the thing to ask us our purpose." He came out of a side-panel and joined Malak again.

"Our destination?"

"Balmorra."

"As you wish."

That flight took them far shorter than the initial approach to Alderaan. Balmorra was located close enough to the other planet that Revan felt some hesitation. The dark station had given him some pause and made him reconsider, but in the long run it would have to wait; he'd made the right choice with Balmorra, and so on they want. Malak had been quiet for a long time when eventually he spoke up, asking, "How do you seek to gain information?"

"Through the Force."

"Fear," Malak noted, with a smile.

"No," Revan retorted, "with a mind trick."

His apprentice, scoffed. "A Jedi tactic."

The Sith Master's thoughts turned then to the Jedi. On Coruscant he had seen no evidence of their remains; the Imperial Palace lay on top of what would have once been the Jedi Temple. _He will have destroyed them all_, a part of him said, but he wondered: _then who are the Rebellion? _Non-Force sensitive humans, however resourceful, could not hope to stand up to the might of the Dark Side. Would that Revan could find them, he would change that. _But first, I must find them._

How well-known the existence of the rebellion was, he did not know, but on a planet like Balmorra, where self-governing was treated as a right, Darth Revan would find the answers he sought. The fate of the Jedi would be a complicated issue to broach, every with the Force. If they had been brought to their knees it might rouse hate in the subject, drawing them out of the mind trick without his warrant. Revan was powerful, but that had changed. Now his limits were not known to him.

_The Force will test me_, he thought. _It always does._

Revan knew his thoughts on the Force were unique, perhaps in the entire galaxy; using both the Light and Dark sides wasn't unheard of, but to divide your thoughts between them, to practice both in combat, to not simply experiment but to _live _those beliefs, that was unusual. He thought it made him more powerful, but things had changed – he would have to rework his thoughts, thread his powers with them. When he was tested, he had to be ready. He had to learn the extent of his powers, and soon. He and Darth Sidious would meet again, and next time he would strike him down.

Balmorra's atmosphere made the shuttle shudder slightly; it was laden heavy with pollution. _Nothing has changed here, I see_. They had come in near, but not too close to, the planet's centre, Bin-Prime. A small space-port had contacted them and they had requested clearance. _A fee will be required_, he knew_, but I can deal with that. _Inside a safe he'd found Galactic Credits, unlike what he'd seen before in the past. Regardless, it was money, and money could be spent. The funds were sent to them on the descent, and they opened the pad. Quickly, he changed his clothing for something more nondescript.

As he left for the rear's exit, Revan became aware that Malak was following, seeking to come. "You will have to stay here," Revan said.

"No," Malak protested. "My place is at your side!" His piety was more disrespect than honour, and Revan did not take kindly to it. Whether it inflamed his temper or not, Malak's appearance was more obvious than Revan's – the markings across the top of his head would be reported, and no doubt galactic forces were on the alert.

"Your place is where I command it to be, Malak," he said, trying to keep his voice low. "I need you here to be sure people do not look too far into the Emperor's shuttle being here." He pulled on the plain grey robes he wore, making them fit more comfortably. There were no alternative footwear, so his armoured boots had to make do. As the rear bay doors lowered and opened out into the planet, he looked back and added, "Do not kill them."

"And what if we are threatened?" Indignation was thick in his voice.

"Then you will do what you must."

Outside, the planet was a junkyard. Metal heaps clogged up the landscape, which might have been sandy otherwise. Revan had been here a few times before, and each time he grew more impress with the wounds the existing government would leave on a planet. But it had to be done. Balmorra was a planet of industry, and that let war continue to rule. _I will have to exploit that,_ he thought. _In time._

"Eh!" A purple-hued Twi'lek male approached Revan with open arms. His arms were thin and scrawny and his clothes fit loosely; perhaps he had gone through a time of hardship. "Mister… is there anything I can do for you? A speeder into the city, maybe? Some food?"

"A speeder would be good."

"Top quality speeders here at Spaceport Darnley – I promise!"

"I doubt that, but I'll take it anyway," he said, a smile almost trailing his face. Revan was not an unjustly brutal man, and this man didn't have any foul intentions. He had probed at his emotions with the Force, and all he felt was apprehension. _Our choice of ship will not have helped._

"Wonderful, wonderful! Come!"

The Twi'lek led the Dark Lord to the speeder and gave him the choice of a few; he recognised none of them. Still, never one for picking based on appearance alone, he chose those with the best functionality. A long, green piercer with a twisted metal rod at the end for radio contact. He doubted it would needed, but there was no real way to know. The Twi'lek took fifty credits – _a small fee_, Revan thought, _but perhaps he struggles to wrangle more from imperials_ – and watched on as Revan mounted the speeder.

"A word of warning." Revan leaned forward, and looked back at the freed slave. "My friend is still inside that ship. My advice is to leave him be. He's trigger-happy. You catch my drift?"

The Twi'lek nodded excitedly. "Would he care for some refreshments, perhaps? I have much wide selection of–"

"That's not advisable," Revan warned. "He will likely kill you. Stay back from the ship is my advice. You will obey me."

A glazed fog came over the Twi'lek and he repeated, "I will obey you."

Revan's speeder rose above the ground, and rushed off.

He rode over the wide plains that surrounded Bin-Prime. Metal junkyards were everywhere; Revan reached out with the Force as he flew across to search for any life, and all he found were small, metal-eating parasites that roamed the planet's surface. More than any other planet, they posed both an immense problem and a solution. They consumed junk, true – that which could not be sold on or melted down. But they also ate at the useful stuff – the durasteel and crete that _could_ be used again.

Whether or not they'd found a solution in the long years since Revan had been gone, he did not know… somehow, he suspected not.

_How long has it been truly? Sidious said thousands of years… was he lying? _

He would soon have to look into the legends. Darth Sidious had hinted that something happened between Revan and Malak, the way his yellow eyes had lingered on Malak. Many things could have happened in the past, but it did not mean the future would repeat it. _Those who do not know the past are doomed to repeat it. _Revan thought on these words hard as he approached the city. If something had gone wrong in the far past, then he should know and be made aware of it. Forces could have ripped Revan and Malak apart…

The city's streets were more like deep gauges made for speeders. What once was paved now had sandy lanes, and the speeders were made to fly in above. He pulled into a small pocket alley near a club that still seemed to have some class and bolted up his speeder. The bouncer, a Trandoshan, blocked his way in.

"You aren't goin' past here."

"I am. You're going to let me through."

"You are. I'm going to let you through."

The green-skinned bulk parted and let him through to the chagrin of the long line that stretched around the side of the building. The person first in the queue tried a similar move and, though Revan did not seen what happened, he heard a sickening thud.

The floor itself was alive with a beat, throbbing with each step the Dark Lord took. The walls were made of stone inside, but they were alive with colour and shapes. Light flashed, projected down from the ceiling, casting images onto the walls of planets and systems. He watched them, walking around the borders of the room, and noted that several Sith-aligned systems were missing from these maps. In the middle of the floor, a giant pool of humans and aliens writhed against one another. On podiums around the room, Twi'leks danced, clad in little but metal bikinis.

Revan's eyes swept the room, but he wasn't looking for Twi'lek dancers or space stations. He was looking for someone with information – information that he could use. On the far side of the room, he saw a plaque embossed with two symbols in the Huttese language. Translated, they meant:

**VIP LOUNGE**

Revan walked over to the entrance and swayed past a feeble-minded and disgusting white-skinned Twi'lek. One lekku coiled around the front of his body, whilst the other shrivelled at the back. His head was a thick mass of skin that bulged all over. He had red eyes, though they were pitiable and pathetic, not malevolent. The Twi'lek led him further in.

"He is leaving soon."

"For where?"

"Tattooine. We mean to be there for the day's end."

Inside the room were slaves, dancers, bodyguards… and in the middle of it all, a Hutt.

"_Achuta_," Revan said. "_Dolpee kikyuna. Ah'chu apenkee_?"

The giant Hutt turned slowly; a giant, worm-like thing with greasy skin and a dark soul. Hutts were profoundly greedy creatures with love for nothing but money and food and growing fat. The sight of them, in truth, made Revan sick, but they were profoundly resourceful creatures, with links that spread throughout the galaxy. _This one will know_, Revan thought, eyeing the posse that seemed to come with him.

"_Chowbaso_," the Hutt said. _Welcome_, it meant, but there was nothing welcoming about its tone. The giant, flat eyes stared at the Twi'lek who was retreating away from Revan now, confused that he had brought him inside. Trandoshan bodyguards, like those outside, were readying their blasters. If it came to a fight, they would not help them. "_Nyoota, be cotma_!" _Please, come in_, he said, sarcasm thick in his voice.

"My name is Kenvar," Revan said, a name he'd used in Empire space to disguise his true identity.

"_Nanyr en saba_?"

"I know you speak Basic. Do not waste both our times by pretending otherwise."

A silence fell over the room, with people looking to the Hutt, wide-eyed and worrying. _This one has a reputation then, for violence no doubt_.

"Why have you come here?" the Hutt spat out in deep guttural tones of its own language. _It will not give that to me, because it would take offense. _

"I am here for information."

"Ha!" The Hutt's gut began to heave up and down, wrinkles creasing into heavy folds of greased, thick flesh. "You have nothing to offer me, human. Leave or be made to leave."

"I will give you one more chance, or I will slaughter every being in here, and then I will torture you until you tell me the truth."

The Hutt leaned in. "Do it."

Revan sighed. _If word of this reaches the Emperor, we will be forced to leave this planet far sooner than I had wanted…_

He drew out the hilt of his lightsaber, and the red blade came to life. Some people in the room moved backwards away from it, not used to seeing them. "A Jedi traitor!" one screamed. "Kill him!"

Blaster bolts rained down on him, and he sent them back. The smells of burned flesh filled the air as he cut down Trandoshan bodyguards that filled the room, the slaves and the innocents. He did so indiscriminately. Outside this chamber, people were screaming and fleeing. The Imperials would come, and soon. _They may hate the Empire's forces, resent them, but when they are afraid, people will turn to them. _

"You have a few moments, and speak my tongue."

The room was littered with the bodies of the dead, but the Hutt was laughing. "You have some force on you, little Jedi," the Hutt said, laughing deep and low, in Basic. "What have you come to find out?"

"The Rebels. Who and where are they?"

"The Rebels… they are not even a distant group of people. People who fund, people who provide information to _freedom fighters_ – fools, I say. Fools. They will not destroy the Empire. What are you? A Jedi seeking to side with them?"

"It doesn't matter who my allegiance is to."

"A red blade. That's not a classic symbol of the old Jedi."

"What happened to the Jedi?" Revan asked, realising his time was short.

The Hutt laughed. "_Purged_."

"The Emperor had them all killed." It made sense.

"Tell me – who funds for the rebels. Who is their de facto leader?"

"A man and his family. On a planet not too far from this one. They give money to them and sponsor them, and the father is the leader of the so-called Rebel Alliance. They are doomed to fail, as you are, old Jedi."

"A _name_, Hutt."

"_Organa_ of Alderaan."

The name was familiar to Revan. "The Senator?"

"And his family too. They are not innocent – the young princess, and his wife. All conspiring to bring the Empire to ruin."

"Does the Empire know they are rebels?"

"Yes. And soon it will find them, and kill them all."

"You've been… very helpful."

Outside, the sound of ships landing filled the air, and the club began to vibrate with a fierce intensity he hadn't felt even in the main area, where sounds filled the club throbbing like a stereophonic boom.

"Leave now."

"I shall," Revan said and turned for the exit. At the door he turned back and looked around the corpses. "And by the way," he said, reaching out with the Force and squeezing at the body of the Hutt, "I am no Jedi."

It died quickly, and he fled.


	4. A New Hope

**Author's Note: **Hi there! We return again for our daily update of _And Then There Were_ _Four! _I liked writing this chapter. There were a few decisions I had to make with this chapter, because it skips forward by two weeks, missing out what they did in the meantime. It's important to me, however, that chapters be more or less a portrait of a single event that cannot be explained with a few paragraphs of exposition. I want to showcase things that _you_ will find interesting, and that are vital to the story. People's specific responses to questions, things like that. So, without any further talking, here's the chapter. Let me know what you think of it when you're done!

* * *

**A NEW HOPE**

* * *

"I have never liked this planet," Malak said on the descent. "There's something about the grass and the trees and the air that lies."

"Let me know when it starts to lie to you, because I'll need to get in touch with a therapist for you," Revan replied, trying to make light of the situation.

Malak glowered. The ship landed on Alderaanian Palace's main port and they made their way, dressed in the stolen garb of an empire diplomatic delegation, to the rear of the ship. Plain blue robes may have suited Revan, but they looked somewhat out of place on Malak; Revan had joked that maybe he should try a wig, lest his striped head match his clothes.

"It is said that if Coruscant is the heart of the galaxy, then Alderaan is its soul. I'm inclined to agree with that sentiment." The rear doors lowered and opened out into a world so different from Balmorra it was difficult to imagine they occupied the same system.

Alderaanian troopers greeted them, and a tall, dark-haired man. His skin looked as though it had never touched plain sunlight before, only made whiter under the bright sky of Alderaan. His robes were light brown and long, and at the shirt underneath was an under-robe of white.

"Welcome, ambassadors. I must say it was a surprise to hear you were coming to Alderaan. We are a quiet planet."

Revan reached across and shook his hand firmly.

"A surprise to us, too. To whom am I speaking?"

"Ah," he continued, apologetic. "Forgive me, ambassadors. I am Sekrom Daluss, personal assistant to the Senator and official representative to all imperial delegations. Allow me to officially say that we are proud to have His Majesty's ambassadors on this peaceful planet. Shall we?"

"We should."

They began to walk. Daluss took them off the main port and down into the palace's interior. They were wide and made of a white, fashioned stone. Each corridor that they went down felt as light-aired as the outside, and as cooling. Revan enjoyed the walk, he had to admit, though Malak seemed more than tense. _Would that I could have left him on Nar Shaddaa_.

They'd spent two weeks on the pirate moon of Nal Hutta, gathering resources and information. Revan had investigated the Empire's rise and found little that he couldn't guess – the Jedi had tried to stage an uprising and a coup, and failed. The Supreme Chancellor, Palpatine, had used newfound powers to bring about the destruction of the traitors.

He was lying, of course. The Jedi had attempted no such thing. There was only so much Revan could guess – the truth had long been wiped from the record, there was nothing truly to rouse doubt in the people. Revan didn't expect them to care much. The idea of the Force had always seemed profound to the common citizens of the Republic thousands of years ago – there were those who ridiculed it and called it a lie, and then the other side, those who believed, and feared. The disappearance of the Jedi was of no inconvenience to the average person. Perhaps it let them sleep easier at night.

Palpatine was ambitious and clever, but he would die like the rest.

"The Senator is looking forward to this meeting, I must say."

"We don't doubt it," Revan said, with only the slightest hint of irony. If this man knew the senator was at the top of the rebellion's food chain, then he was showing no sign of it. His ignorance was either an impressive form of mummery, or he was simply oblivious. _The personal assistant to the Rebel Alliance's leader would have to be a loyal friend indeed._

"How long have you worked for Senator Organa, Daluss?"

He glanced back. "Me? It'll be… nine years this summer."

"I thought every day was summer in Alderaan," Malak said, though there was irony in his voice.

"Too right."

"Do you enjoy your time here?"

"I do. His Serene Highness is a righteous man, an honourable man."

"We are here to make sure of that," Revan said. The assistant scrambled to clarify his words; they were afraid of the Empire's "delegation", and rightly so. At all times they retained the ability to dispense the Empire's unique brand of justice, or, as Revan liked to call it, butchery.

_The imperial inquisitors, _Revan thought. _That is what they call them._

"Yes, yes, of course. I always welcome a chance to showcase our beautiful planet. Later, if it please you, I would happily arrange a tour of the immediate area. Not on a speeder, of course. There is wildlife on Alderaan that flies us across the skies! You would be very impressed. Most are."

"I would rather eat the sand from your beaches," Malak replied.

The representative had nothing to say to that.

High Serene Highness Bail Prestor Organa met the Empire's delegation in his own personal chambers. He rose when they entered, opening his arms wide as if to welcome them on his own. His smile seemed sincere, but his eyes were hard. _A true politician. _

"Welcome, delegates." He shook Revan's hand.

"Krevnak Kovar," Revan said by way of introduction. Malak took a step back and said nothing. "I wonder if we could have this conversation _alone_," Revan said, glancing back at Daluss.

"I did wonder why you requested no journalists, no media. Usually Empire delegates like to make a big show of coming here. A circus, if you will. Could it be that two of the emperor's delegates seek to come here and actually do some… what is it they call you, inquisitors? No matter. Daluss, that'll be all. Thank you very much. Wait around, will you? I don't sense they will be staying long."

His office was vast, but empty; the curtains were made of simple white material, the national colour of Alderaan. He himself was dressed in deep blue garb but for his trousers, which were black.

"You can sit," he said, and took his own place behind his desk. It was large and made of wood – rare in the world, but Alderaan had always refrained from using metals and plastics. Revan and Malak sat down, two seats had been laid out for them. Wooden with a cashmere-velvet seat. "Why are you here?"

"We've come to help."

Senator Bail Organa laughed. "_Help_. What help do you want to bring to this planet? We are peaceful. I've said it before, and I'll say it again: I don't want any landing pads on my planet. We are a peaceful planet with no weapons."

That was not strictly true, but Revan didn't mean to argue. Alderaan had sophisticated weapons systems planet-wide. Advanced laser weaponry, plasma bolts, ion cannons, everything that a planet could require to protect itself from outside forces. Alderaan had it all, and yet they protested innocence. The Empire knew this and, if a situation ever came where they needed a scapegoat, the Jedi Purge could come again, with Alderaan as its target.

_It would be a great shame to see such beauty go to waste_.

"That's not why we are here, Bail."

"_Senator Organa_, if you please."

"Bail," Revan repeated. Malak looked to Revan for any guidance, but his master did not look back. On this front, tact was required. Darth Malak had no tact. "We are not here on behalf of the Empire. We seek its demise."

"Is this some kind of trick? What you're speaking of is _treason _against the Empire. Against the Emperor himself."

"It is treason for citizens of this Empire. We are no such beings. I am Lord Revan."

"Revan? What kind of joke is this?"

"It is no joke. I am Lord Revan, and this is my apprentice, Malak." He cringed a little at being addressed as such, but honesty was important here. As important as it would ever be. "We aren't representatives from the Empire. Our ship was a well-made forgery, as were its identification signatures. It seems that even a government ruled by fear cannot completely control its workers… all clogged up in a low-paying bureaucracy, you can understand why they'd welcome a little more income."

"This is ludicrous, SECURITY–"

The door opened a little. Revan's hand went up, and it slammed shut. "We will not be interrupted, senator. Soon, the Emperor will deserve the senate permanently, and you will be left entirely without a voice. You will listen to our offer. We are your new hope."

"You are Dark Jedi with a motive. Thousands of years have passed–"

"Yes," Malak interrupted. "We've been told. Now keep your mouth closed."

Revan glared at his apprentice. "There's no need for callousness here, Malak. Politicians talking to politicians." He looked back to Organa. "Something happened to us, we were dislodged from our time and sent forward to yours. We understand it as much as you do, but it is the will of the Force, and we cannot fight it. We approached this _Emperor_ and his robot dragon, Vader."

"More a dog, who needs to be kicked," Malak intoned.

"True, yes. We fled. It would have been suicide to attack them there – something weakened our powers when we moved through time. We stole the Emperor's shuttle – well, I won't bore you with the details."

"The attack on the imperial palace – it was said renegade Jedi attacked…"

"Naturally, you believe every word from your Emperor's mouth. He has been hunting for us, and hard, but we've managed to avoid him with little trouble."

Bail Organa leaned back in his chair, staring at them, trying to absorb the immensity of what he was hearing. Though he could not probe into his very thoughts, Revan felt that he was, at least starting to, believe them. "So… it is true. Are you then Jedi, or Dark Lords?"

"You cannot tell?"

"The legends surrounding Revan and – _you_ – are not well defined. Whispers through time change."

Malak's back straightened on his chair. "We are Dark Lords of the Sith."

Bail Organa rose from his chair and backed off slightly. "Get out."

"We are not leaving, senator. We have not yet said our piece. You will listen to us. Now, call off your guards. They are beginning to test my concentration."

Briefly, he hesitated, but then he called, "All is fine! Return to your posts!"

The guards thundered on the door once more, and then they stopped. _It seems they are trained to obey him without question_, Revan thought. _Perhaps they too are agents of this Rebellion. I must broach this carefully. _

"Tell me: how long has it been then?"

"Four thousand years, give or take. I'd say _give_. A long, long time."

"So Sidious was telling the truth. Sidious – you know this name?"

Bail Organa gave a short nod. "Yes, though I'm one of the few. His identity as a Sith Lord is known to Vader, an inner circle – Grand Moffs – and select others. He came to power largely by spreading anti-Jedi sentiment, and citizens care little to differentiate between them… they're all space wizards following an old, dead religion."

Malak's rage hit Revan suddenly, enough for him to turn his head quickly. "Calm yourself, Malak. He means no offense to us. I'd wager that this one has greatest respect for Force-users."

"And how would you know that?"

"I sense something powerful here, on this planet. Something powerful in this building, I sense. An object, perhaps? You have been stowing them away, I would bet. Given to you by long dead Jedi? It doesn't matter what those are, what matters is that you are still loyal to this old Republic, and to all Force-users."

"I am loyal to the Jedi," Bail Organa said, placing both palms flat on his table and leaning over. "You sicken me. You will get no help from me. To replace two tyrants with two more. _The devil I know_," he said, as if that should mean something.

"We know of the Rebel Alliance, senator. Things like that do not go unnoticed. Does the Emperor know? Only time will tell, but if he does – and he will – then you will need allies. We can be those allies. Do not alienate the people who will help you the most."

"I have powerful allies," Bail Organa said, turning away from the two Sith Lords. He strode away, calmly, and looked out a window over vast green plains and mountain ranges where snow fell on their peaks, calm and swift. "When I need their aid, they will come."

"Jedi that are still alive? It would make sense, otherwise the Force would be unbalanced." Malak scoffed. _He does not believe that the Force has a sort of scale. If it is tipped too far one way, you can fall of…_

"You will not find them, Sith, and you will get no help from me. Set about conquering the galaxy in your own way."

"Your Rebel Alliance is tenuous at best, Bail. Friends are a necessary—"

"I said nothing about the Rebel Alliance. I take no position on those–"

"Liar," Revan said, "but it's not important right now. What is important is that you see sense. It is not possible to overthrow Sidious alone."

"DON'T YOU THINK I KNOW THAT? Don't you think I struggle _every day _with the oppression of people galaxy-wide? I want to help them! I want to help them all! But I have no power. Not yet. I have faith, though, that light will come. A new hope will be found, and it will not be you. You, _Sith_, are not something sent by the will of the Force. You are accidents travelling through _wounds_ in the Force!"

Malak stood and clenched his fist, and the senator began to rise, trying to scream and clutching at his throat. His robes floated around him roughly, and Revan shouted, commanding him, "MALAK! STOP THIS!" He forced his palm out and gave his apprentice a shove of considerable Force, and the senator fell, collapsing to the floor. "You dare _dishonour my commands_!"

"He is dishonouring _us_!" Malak said, advancing on his master. "We are Sith Lords, we are not here to grovel at the feet of self-claimed kings! We are kings! We should take his head and throw it down on the palace floor!"

"Stupid, stupid," Revan muttered, "we will discuss this later. Senator, I apologise grievously for what has happened to you, truly."

"Get out," the senator said, coming to his feet and rubbing at his throat. "I won't see you again. Leave my planet. Come back and I'll contact the Emperor myself and tell him you are there. That should curry some favour. LEAVE! Guards, come and escort these two off-world."

Bail Organa, standing up to two of the most powerful Dark Lords of the Sith. He pointed at the door whilst licking his wound. His face had been bloodied from the fall. Malak left first, and Revan followed; the leader of the Rebel Alliance stayed behind, perhaps unwilling to spend any more time than necessary beside Sith Lords.

Daluss led them back down the same corridors again. Revan tried to reach out with the Force and push at the assistant's mind, but he proved more resistant than the Sith Lord thought he would. _He has some strength in his head._

Walking down by the main hall, something came at Revan. He felt a presence around him, and he stopped, almost staggered by it. He began to look around for it, because he saw it through the Force – an object, somewhere in the room. The one he had felt before. "_Stop_," Revan commanded, and Daluss did. There was no trick here, only the full span of the Force. Even Malak halted.

The Sith Master took a few steps back and looked down a giant flight of marble steps. The main entrance chamber of the Palace of Alderaan had changed much since Revan had last seen it; maybe it was the removal of the lavish purple carpets and wall fixtures. Or perhaps it was the stark disappearance of ancient battle armaments and pottery. But no, it was none of those things.

It was the young woman pacing the floor, being attended to by people she clearly had no interest in being followed by. She was dressed in white, but the most distinctive marker was her hair. It was wound up in tight, circular buns. _I wonder…_

"Mr Ambassador," Daluss pleaded. "We have to go. We mustn't disturb anyone."

"Tell me who she is."

"I really don't think—"

"_Tell me."_

"The Princess Leia of Alderaan."

The name meant nothing to Revan, but her name meant nothing. He closed his eyes, and he saw through the Force. It pulsed out of her in deep, throbbing impulses that lit up the room. A supernova of potential, both a fountain and a well of immense Force power.

Revan saw through the Force, and the Princess Leia glowed.


	5. Full Dark

**Author's Note: **I was tempted to split this into two chapters, but I felt that you'd probably prefer it as one. It's been the longest chapter so far, but I think it's one you'll enjoy. I had some fun writing it, especially nearer the end. Revan is coming into his own as a character, and I think his depth is filling out the others too - remember, it's all from his very biased perspective. Just because he sees someone as an idiot, does not an idiot make! Speaking of which, Malak doesn't appear in this chapter (well, he does, in a flashback), because he isn't important here. He will be, though, in time. I can't wait for you all to begin to get to the meat of this story. We're only just getting started, _and that's saying something_. Reviews would be nice! It just makes me happy to see why you're following and favouriting the story. What have you enjoyed? Thanks to the people who've been reviewing so far! More important than any number of reviews: enjoy.

* * *

**FULL DARK**

* * *

The palace was still that night.

Occasionally, from the shadows, Revan watched guards moving through the palace in a sweeping pattern, blasters at the ready. One or two of them were armed with electrostaffs and vibroblades, though very few bared any resemblance to those they'd seen at the Imperial Palace. _It seems the Empire's munitions do not come here. Perhaps Organa does not want to feed the beast, as it were._

Malak was gone. Not without some resistance, of course, but it wouldn't be Malak if he didn't contest his master's decision. Daluss, the representative, had led them back to their shuttle on the roof with no warning, at which point Revan had asked them to wait until he spoke with Malak.

"I will not leave the planet whilst you enjoy yourself amidst the greenery."

Revan's jaw had tensed. "I have plans here. You will do what I command you to do, Malak. Nothing else. Return to Nar Shaddaa. I will not be too long. Something has come up, a plan unfolding."

"Your schemes will _fail_, Revan."

"You will not _dare_ to speak to me like this, Malak." His apprentice had staggered back, and Revan walked forward; the insubordination would not stand anymore. The Alderaanian guards and Daluss looked on. No doubt they could feel the cold flooding the area. "I am your master, and sent into the future or not, you will obey me." Revan lowered his voice. "Our Order is at risk. I will not let you run about like a rapid rancor. _Do you understand me?_"

Malak nodded.

Revan had turned back to the guards. "_Listen to me_," he said, though not in his voice. _"You will do as I say, and you will remember what I wish you to remember." _He'd delved deep into their minds through the Force and warped at them, bit and tugged and clawed at the memories, moulding… It had taken forty, maybe fifty standard minutes. Behind him, Malak had stood quietly, raging. It made no matter. It was Dark work, and the anger only fuelled Revan's power. He twisted and pulled with a fierce intensity. Wisps of yellow and red and purple had flashed in the eyes of Daluss, and of the six guards that had accompanied him.

"_You escorted me from Senator Bail Organa's office, and we did not stop for anything. You took me with some force, but respectfully. We came to this platform and we both left. My companion and I. After that, there was a long gap in your memory because the guards accompanied you to the cantina. You ate. Are there any gaps in your memory?"_

"No," the guards and Daluss intoned all at once. They were linked by a hive-mind that Revan happened to rule. _I have always wanted to be a queen_, he thought.

"_Leave._"

They left.

Malak had taken no more convincing; he had left shortly after, without even so much as a brief run-down as Revan's plans. In truth, he was still formulating them in his own mind. They had to be well-founded, as to not arouse suspicion from any of the parties involved. That would be the most delicate part.

Revan waited until the moon was at the highest point in the sky, the Alderaan Lunar Peak. It was a crescent moon, but not the only form of illumination in the sky; white lights lit the paths outside of the palace. Revan reached out with the Force. _Nothing_. He moved out from the shadows, letting go of the Dark Side power that was drawing the shadows to him.

He was dressed in all black, with a hood pulled up. The material was strong, and dark as shadow. He moved through the paths that led up to a small side-entrance, though it was still guarded by three troopers. Their own uniforms were ceremonial, but Revan reckoned they could stand up well enough in a fire-fight.

Revan did not fight with fire.

"You! Hold. You don't have permission to—"

He waved a hand and silence fell over them. Their eyes became glazed. Revan didn't need all of them.

"_You two go home – you are dismissed." _Revan addressed one young and one old guard. _I will need variation for my plan to succeed. _"_And you two – you will take me to the princess's handmaiden. The one she trusts most."_

The guards entered the password into the panel and the door panels slid open. They led Revan inside the Palace of Alderaan. It had a different atmosphere to it at night; the white walls and floors were tinted by shadows that danced, cast by flames on wall mounts he hadn't seen before. In the main hall there were no guards. The bulk of the Alderaan Royal Guard would be with His Serene Highness Bail Organa and his family. The extent of the guards protecting his target, he did not know. His plan hopefully would not lead him directly there.

_I am scheming, not suicidal._

Two Royal Guards led the Darth Revan, Dark Lord of the Sith, up the large, sweeping staircase of the Palace of Alderaan. Revan began to think that maybe he could become acquainted with such style. Darth Sidious may not have required a guard, but there was something to be said for _having_ one. It brought style and prestige and, though protection was not necessary, it bestowed the appearance of power. Revan had always been very interested in cultivating appearances.

During their time on Nar Shaddaa, Revan had been very careful in fostering an appearance. He had presented himself as a wealthy businessman; and, indeed, he'd found it profoundly easy to acquire credits. Citizens and merchants were stupid, he'd found. They too were very interested in appearances – so he became what they wanted to see.

Malak had approached difficult criminals and extracted credits for them, becoming what more or less amounted to an enforcer. Revan had struggled to get more specific details from his apprentice, though he said nothing. It didn't surprise him. Malak had disappeared on more than one occasion, and since then his temper had grown more and more unruly.

It worried him a little, but he tried to keep it out his mind. Perhaps he was foolish to dismiss the concerns off-hand, but there were more important things on Revan's mind. Darth Sidious and Darth Vader were opponents to be reckoned with – they would need to be dealt with, and soon. Then he could turn his attention to Malak.

And besides, he had a fountain to find first.

Guards further down the corridor tilted their heads, slightly confused at seeing their fellow guards' presence. Revan reached into his store of Dark Side power and drew it around him like a veil. To them, he was gone.

"_You have official business on the direct orders of His Serene Highness. You are… authorised to use quiet, lethal force."_

"Sebaak, Terris… why are you here?"

"We have official business on the direct orders of His Serene Highness." They marched on, and Revan kept back. Their voices were low, but as forceful and purposeful as their footsteps.

"Wait, we need clearance before we can – _argh!"_

The guards clenched their elbows around the necks of their other guards and snapped it quickly and forcefully to the right. Their necks split, but one of them didn't die then and there. He kept moving. Blasters made too much noise; and so one of the guards lowered down onto his own knees. With great focus and method, the guard wrapped his hands around his throat, and he choked the life from him.

Revan would have did it himself, but he preferred to keep his hands away from this. In the rare event that his plans were to fail, no trace of this could be left. This had to be the criminal manoeuvrings of rogue guards.

And it would be.

"_Dispose of the bodies. Later, you will look on this with great clarity and elation. Hide the bodies somewhere they won't be found on patrol. At least for some time."_

They dragged the bodies away and Revan waited. He let go of the Dark Side veil around him and waited, gathering the Force. Alderaan had always been strong, though he wondered if that was perhaps less due to the planet itself, and more to the deep well that lived in this very palace. _Sometimes the Force acts out its will in strange ways_, he thought. _It is not my job to interpret that, only to follow its set path._

And this young woman… she was the end of the path, a dark light at the end of it.

The guards returned soon enough. _"Continue on our path."_

Was this _Leia_ as powerful as Revan himself? No, he reckoned. She was powerful, but not as powerful as Revan had been in the past, or even was now. He wondered if any Force-adept was as powerful now as they had been in the past. It seemed that they all were less powerful, and make his de-powering was a result of that.

_I will find out the root of that, too._

Was she as powerful as _Malak_? She might have the potential to exceed him in raw power, and succeed him as an apprentice. _I would do well to disguise this idea_, Revan thought, lest Malak try to assassinate her. _Although that might be an interesting situation…_

They continued along long, white corridors and only encountered other guards twice. The next time, Revan did not even bother to conceal himself. He didn't avert his eyes towards any of the deaths; the Dark Lord may be a Sith, but he derived no pleasure from it, like Malak might. He looked on coolly and as an observer.

_It has to be done_, he thought. Revan regretted that it had to be done, but he felt no remorse. There was a line between the two, and he would not cross it.

They reached a point in the corridor where it sundered two ways: left, a grander route by any means, and right, far more humble and stripped. The guards took the right route, and stopped at the far end of the corridor.

"We are here."

"_Your instructions were clear. Bring her to me."_

They didn't nod. They only went into the room. Revan waited.

Soon enough they returned with the handmaid in hand. She looked frantic, wide-eyed and worried. She was wearing a white bed-robe with a red sash around her waist. Her hair was light brown and tied up haphazardly.

"Is something wrong – who are you—"

Revan placed an open palm on her forehead. She began to twitch, her eyes moving rapidly, flailing as though she were seizing up. Her muscles tensed up and went into a massive spasm. And then she was still.

The Dark Lord gave her precise instructions.

* * *

In the distance, Revan saw the ship rise from the Palace of Alderaan. He quickly made the same move in his own ship. He'd acquired it after the sun disappeared, but before full dark. Unlike all other trickery on this planet, he'd paid for the ship. A corrupt bureaucrat with no problems selling to the highest bidder – an official government ship, one registered and sanctioned through all the correct channels.

The ship ascended and, slowly and entering stealth mode, he followed. Things were unfolding nicely, but it would be delicate from here-on out. Revan looked down at the landscape he was leaving, and he wondered if he would see it again. Alderaan had a beautiful landscape and a respectable people, but there was nothing for him here. Nothing but wild fauna and exotic beasts. Revan had no need for either on the path to the emperor's chair.

Sometimes he dreamed about that very chair.

A robotic voice filled the shuttle's flying deck and said, "Empire communication operator. This is an automated voice. Whom would you like to be connected to?"

"The nearest Grand Moff," he said, disinterested.

"Connecting… just a moment, captain."

Silence. The ship left the atmosphere, trailing the other ship from a safe distance. There was no worry in his mind that they might jump to hyperspace without any warning. He had disabled their core long before the plan had moved into these stages.

"Captain Charaal C'Boath?"

"PLEASE HELP ME!"

"This is Grand Moff Tarkin, governor of the—"

"PLEASE! YOU HAVE TO DO SOMETHING!" Revan's voice was hysterical; panic gripped in his throat.

"What is the nature of this emergency, captain?" The Grand Moff's voice was reflective, and Revan detected suspicion. _A clever man._

The Grand Moff position was new within the Empire, but it was one of immense power. They responded to the supreme commander of the military, and often-times had overruled him in the past. A strange dynamic, indeed, and Revan had to wonder what treachery Sidious suspected Vader of that he had to set up safeguards to protect against an insurrection on his behalf.

"Treachery, Grand Moff! Against His Royal Higness, the Emperor Palpatine…"

A pause, and then, "You speak of treason, yes?"

"Yes, yes…"

"I will need names, captain."

"I have sworn oaths, Grand Moff… I don't know… I have taken _oaths_…"

"An oath to uphold the empire is far more important than all others. The Oath of Allegiance to the Emperor himself supersedes all others. Names."

"There are too many of them to name. I just heard _whisperings_… a crowd of them, in a circle in the palace. The senator, Daluss, Sekarr, so many guards… and there were two other men. All dressed in black. They… they frightened me most. I just – I don't know. They could kill me. They could do anything. I need help. I can't talk anymore."

"Tell me, captain, what did they look like?"

"Tall. One was bald, I think, with blue stripes… and the other, eyes yellow as a sun. One of them… sorcery, magic… that old, dead religion. The senator made him stop, but they were in control… _rebels_, Grand Moff."

His voice changed, tensed. Maybe it was anger, perhaps it was fear. _And you __**should**__ fear me, Grand Moff Tarkin_. "The Palace of Alderaan? With Bail Organa?"

"Yes, Grand Moff…"

Revan locked onto the other ship and sent a request to board. It would be granted, and soon.

"Where are you now, captain?"

"I'm a few miles from the palace, calling from inside my ship. I am afraid… afraid for my life."

"Stay on the surface of the planet, captain. We will call back soon," he said, and then, much quieter before he disconnected, "reposition now—"

An automated female voice. "Authorisation granted."

The other ship continued onwards, but Revan's sped up. He caught up within a few minutes, far past Alderaan's moon. It was one of the more unremarkable lunar surfaces Revan had laid his eyes on, but he had seen it before in the past. Bare white sand and craters caused by asteroid collisions. Alderaan had no rings like many other planets did; it had remarkable beauty, and a plain moon.

"Boarding now."

Revan's shuttle fit nicely into the other, and a metal hiss and grinding indicated that they'd completely began the new process. He had already changed his clothes into something more fitting; his robes were a plain light colour, and he'd even brushed his hair. _Anything for a princess_, he thought, a smile on his face.

He made his way to the docking bay and the doors slid apart. Even from this distance, he could tell she was on the ship. He could feel her presence along the cold, metal floors; in the very walls and through locked doors.

Revan looked forward to making her acquaintance, and it was fast approaching.

The atmosphere was entirely different in the other shuttle; all walls were panelled over with white metals. No red lights flashed from beneath them, nor exposed panels. The floors did not even cling as Revan walked along the corridors. He let the Dark Side energies inside him dissipate. He did not let the Light in as he could, however. He was treading a thin line, and he had to be careful not to step onto either side.

Princess Leia of the House Organa was pacing the room. It was a wide room, almost like an office on Alderaan; there was a table and chairs, and two windows on either side of the shuttle that offered view not just of Alderaan, but of Revan's ship. Her handmaiden was sitting, however, and staring at her mistress with the same wide-eyed worry Revan had seen earlier. She was still under the effects of his power, but they would be lingering now. She would remember what he wanted her to remember.

"You," Leia said. "What is going on here?"

"A threat has been made on your life," Revan said. "Your father has asked for you to come off-world, and I have been enlisted to guide you."

"You are saying you knew my father?"

"Yes," Revan said, nodding, smiling. "He called us today and made a few fears known. He thinks an attack is likely, a sacking by his enemies."

Leia straightened up; Revan could tell before her mouth opened that she was about to feign ignorance on this matter. "My father has enemies?"

Revan eyed her handmaiden. "Are we free to speak – freely?"

"Why wouldn't we be?"

"I know that not all handmaidens are trusted with some… finer points."

"I assure you, Arri can be trusted. You can speak as freely as you wish."

"I'll speak plain, Leia. These circumstances are bad. Someone within the Alliance has spoken out to the Empire. They _know_. Your father has been made aware of it."

"And you know this…?"

"My friend and I act as imperial delegates – inquisitors, agents, whatever names are being used. We discovered it in our time on the moon of Nar Shaddaa, and came to Alderaan at once."

Leia paused for a moment, biting her bottom lip. "You said my father asked for you."

"Yes," Revan said, without missing a beat. "We made your father aware of this disloyalty among the Alliance and we quickly took steps to make him aware. With good reason, he did not trust the empire's Holocom systems to allow us to speak. We came to your planet."

"I see. And why has my father not left the planet?"

"We expect he will be joining us soon, elsewhere. We are still too close to Alderaan."

"Why are you allies of my father? Why are you traitors to your empire?"

"You are a traitor too, princess. We all are, but since you asked why I specifically am…" Revan waved his hand and summoned a chair towards him. He took a seat. "My friend and I have abilities."

"Abilities. You have the ability to channel the Force?"

"Yes," Revan said. "There's more to it than that, but for now, it should be left at that."

Leia expected more to be said, but she was silent. Her eyes were set in the distance, looking far out the window in the black of space. Alderaan was still fairly large outside, but its moon – which they had passed – was all but invisible. Slowly, she walked towards the window. Fear and terror had gripped her, and when Revan looked around, he saw why.

_They really are pulling out all the stops, aren't they?_

The space station Revan had seen before was slowly advancing on Alderaan, making the planet seem like one of its small moons. Leia placed her hands up against the windows and looked out. "No," she muttered. "No, no, no… Arri, get my father now. Make the ship do it. Quick!"

Revan stared at the giant, black moon. Slowly, it was rotating. Not all of it, only the top half. Within half a minute the large indented area was facing it, like the cold eye of god. Revan tried hard to keep from smiling, very hard indeed. He let the Force flow through him and into Leia, and he used true Force Sight again. She was aglow with light and power and potential. She would become a devastating weapon, more powerful than the station they sat just too far away from.

"Leia, I am sorry. Arri, your first duty is what?"

"To – to the princess' wellbeing."

"You see that is now in danger?"

She hesitated, looking at the young woman pressed up against the glass, and then, quietly, added, "Yes."

"Begin an immediate transfer of hyper-core energy over for a one-time jump to hyperspace. Take it from my own ship. The two fit together. It will work, I promise." She did nothing. _"Now_," he said, refreshing the control on her. Leia flinched, but the girl rushed into action.

"Don't you dare," Leia warned, without turning. "We have to do something. Alderaan is peaceful – we have no weapons!"

Revan walked over and stood beside her, looking at the planet and the station, waiting for the judgement. _They will wait no longer_, he thought_, and this is better than I had planned. _Revan had thought they might send a small group to the palace and slaughter all inside. This was a different matter entirely, so he braced himself. Leia had no such training. She would feel it.

Green light filled the black void of space, and the shuttle shuddered hardly. Alderaan was gone; a billowing of asteroid rock was left. _A graveyard is born_, Revan thought. Leia began to scream and cry and bang hard on the window, begging for it to be undone. Revan could not give her that ability.

He felt the millions of voices crying out in terror, but he did not feel remorse. They were necessary deaths. Regrettable losses, but necessary all the same.

Only one voice mattered now, and as of now, she was using it to cry.

_She will learn other uses for grief_, Revan thought. _I can give her that._


	6. Reason

**Author's Note: **And once more (with feeling). I was worried initially that I wouldn't be able to complete this chapter before today, but I managed. I struggled a little with the contents because it took a while to work out what was going to happen in the chapter and in what order. I had to go back and forth with myself for a little while. A friend gave me some well-needed clarity on the chapter, though, so that's great. I worked out the major things I had to get across, and took it from there. I hope you like it, and don't forget to review! :3

* * *

**REASON**

* * *

Leia hadn't left the ship.

It had taken Revan no time at all to jump to hyperspace. Leia had screamed and raged, and it had only fed his certainty that she had power, immense power. A storm was raging around her, one that could lead to the dark, but one that could lead to the light.

Revan would have to be careful, and he knew that.

She hadn't yet left the shuttle, and neither would he. Her handmaid was sleeping near her at all times, but she'd locked the doors to her room, and Revan was hesitant to force them in. He couldn't be an antagonist to her, not now, not when she was vulnerable and afraid. Leia needed a kind face to appear with an answer, but he wasn't ready to come to her.

"I still not do not see the point in this, Revan." Malak had discovered his master's location on the second day of return to Nar Shaddaa; he had returned quickly, and with some heat. "She might be an asset, yes, but to… sit around and wait on her. We are not servants, we are—"

"No more, Malak."

"I would like an explanation, _Revan_."

Revan rose from the table and paced away, looking out at dark space. Nar Shaddaa was in sight over the other window.

"This is the window I watched Alderaan burst into a million rocks."

"Ah yes," Malak said, as if being reminded of something else to complain about. "And rocks is all that will remain. That station is a powerhouse, but it symbolises everything that is _wrong_ with this… Galactic Empire."

Revan smirked, though Malak couldn't see it. He waited until it died down before he spoke. _You can hear it in a voice. _"And what is that?" Revan asked, humouring his apprentice.

Malak laughed. "They put their faith in machines! In troops, in armaments. This is _wrong_. The true power is in the Force. Had we been at full strength, we could have boarded the station and ripped it apart with raw power!"

"Maybe so," Revan said, "but this is a different time. Politics matter now, not just raw power. The troops and machines matter, but they are _smaller_ matters. They pale in comparison to our most valuable asset."

"And what is that?"

Revan turned. Malak was sitting in the centre of the room, at the conference table. "The new leader of the Rebel Alliance."

Malak scoffed. "There are other leaders that can take her place. She is a princess, yes, she may acquire a hereditary title that way, but the leader of the Alliance is not passed on from a dead father to his daughter. What age is the girl?"

"Nineteen."

"_Nineteen! _And you think they will prompt her to be the leader of the alliance."

"It will come to pass, Malak, yes. Soon enough, she will gain control of an army."

"An army that doesn't exist."

Revan smiled. "I know it exists, though not on one planet." Malak was a fool not to see this. "The strength of the Rebel Alliance is in this fact. If it were on one planet, then the station could move to it, and destroy it with little thought." This was mostly true; Revan did not yet know the full extent of the station's capacity to move, but he doubted it could jump to hyperspace. "They are spread across the galaxy now."

"The Empire is simply useless then. You find one rebel, and you squeeze them. This Emperor can use lightning to great effect – we know that much of his abilities. He could take a single rebel and burst the information from them. It would not be hard for us to do, and yet we know he chooses to _delegate_ to interrogators."

"You don't understand rebels, Malak. To be committed to a cause beyond all other measurement. They care for nothing but secession from the Empire – they will die for it. Being recruited will not simply be a measure of an interview! It will be about dire love. Passion."

"Don't lecture to me on passion, Revan."

Revan tried to keep his temper down. If Leia was attuned to the Force now, she might feel rising tempers and interpret incorrectly; sometimes the Dark Side came on too strong, too violent.

"You were given instructions, Malak. Did you follow them?"

_It's best to change the subject now, and I haven't broached this with Malak. Now is a good time._

"I did." _Being uncooperative, are we?_

"And?" Revan took a seat at the desk.

"I spent a day with the object, Revan. Twenty-seven standard hours without sleeping, without eating. I was still and I concentrated."

"Stop the dramatics," Revan said, laughing, but Malak did not find it amusing. "Just cut to the main issue."

"It – had some power. The ability to find certain things, it grew strong around them. Visions, I believe. Projecting them. Its powers were varied, but weak and vague. It's not worth any attention."

Revan nodded. _He might be right, but I should keep an eye on it all the same. Any ancient Sith artefacts are worth keeping – a long-dead Lord had it for a reason, and the Force might will it on us for a reason._

Revan had sent Malak back to Dromund Kaas; it was two weeks after their arrival on Korriban, and the Emperor had relinquished his hold on the ancient Sith stronghold. A part of Revan wondered if maybe Sidious feared the Sith Lords of old. They had powers that Sidious could not have dreamed of, so it would make sense that he returned to the planet very little. Revan had looked into it – he had returned twice, though no reasons were ever made public.

When it came to the Emperor Palpatine, nothing was public.

_He is an intensely private person_, some reports said, but others were more forthcoming: _he climbed the political ladder on his own talent and skill_;_ he made allies that approached and befriended him;_ and the accusations went on.

There was a simple truth: not much was known. It was filtered through propaganda, through lies. Revan had been able to gather few solid facts about Sidious. He had learned that he'd befriended a Hugo Damask, a powerful and influential businessman. Looking into this man bore more fruit. He'd profited massively in manipulations of businesses that he did not own, only participated in. He was a clever man.

And one Revan suspected of being another Sith Lord.

"Keep it safe."

"I had no other intentions. What are your intentions for this Leia?"

"She has power, Malak. That's all I can say for the moment."

Malak's eyes darkened and he stared at Revan. "What kind of power?"

"Many kinds of power," Revan replied, trying to keep his reply ambiguous.

Malak pushed his chair away and it collapsed to the floor. Echoes bounced all around the shuttle, loud and hard. "Please, _master._ Start a list, and begin with _Force aptitude._"

"I won't lie to you, Malak. You are my apprentice. She has some connection to the Force, and it is my contention that she may be able to—"

"Succeed me as your apprentice, and then you as master?"

"—influence rebel squadron leaders. We have cut off their head, but the body is alive. I want to force it to grow a very specific head. A head with a very specific hairdo." Malak still looked sceptical. "_Leia._"

"Your intent is clear."

"Quiet, Malak. Your paranoia is laughable." Revan did not want to deal with Malak anymore; soon, he would have to bring Leia out from her room. He expected that to happen soon. "I need you to return to Nar Shaddaa."

"And why is that?"

"To look further into this artefact."

"I told you that it was a dead end, Revan—"

"And I am telling you to look further into it."

Malak's cynicism and paranoia was apparent on his face, plain as day. "You will regret this, Revan."

Revan couldn't allow the insubordination to go unpunished. His hand Pushed his apprentice and he flew back, slammed and pressed against the glass. He struggled against it, trying to break free. He was powerful, but his talent was unrefined, as always. _All brute force and no deft talent. _"No, Malak. There is a line and you will not cross it." Darth Revan walked towards his apprentice with his palm outstretched and pressed. He could feel Malak's weight moulding to the Force holding him.

Revas was more powerful, there was no questioning it. "I have come to resent your attitude, Malak. We are isolated from all allies we once had. I had thought, perhaps foolishly, that you would obey me. As my apprentice, you should, and _you will._ Do you unders—"

Revan staggered backwards and Malak fell from the height, landing on his feet. He thrust two hands out and forced his master back, but he caught him. They Pushed together.

"I WILL NOT BE REPLACED!"

Revan let loose a web of lightning inside his Force Push, and Malak's lightsaber leapt to life and began to absorb it. The distinctive hum filled the ship, and Revan began to worry. He let go of the Force Push. "Put it away, Malak. _Now._"

Malak hesitated, and for a long moment Revan thought his apprentice might leap and slash at him with his blade. Revan's hand was ready to move for his own, but Malak sheaved his weapon. "Your intent is obvious, _master_. This isn't over."

He fired out lightning and it staggered Revan, but did not hurt him. When he looked back, Malak was gone, fled. He stood there for a few moments wondering if he should pursue, but then decided against it. A side-emergency shuttle detached, and Malak returned to Nar Shaddaa.

Revan took a seat and a few moments to draw on the Light. He brought it over him, remembering peace. Replacing Malak with Leia would be no easy task; he was fully trained, and powerful. _Growing more powerful with each passing day, it seems. _Revan would needed power and tact to overthrow the Emperor and Vader, but not in equal measures. Training a new apprentice would take time; and convincing one to welcome the Dark would be even more testing. If students were unwilling to devote themselves, the Dark Side could – and often did – consume you whole, burning you out from the inside.

_I will have to be careful_, he thought, rising, and leaving the command deck. He walked towards the control deck and then up a short stairwell up onto a bridge that housed sleeping quarters. Directly across from the top of the stairwell lay Leia's handmaid. She was more curled up than lying, arms wrapped around her legs and head tucked in behind her knees. Her back was to the wall literally and figuratively. She looked hopeless and deathly.

"Has she left the room?"

Arri jerked, alarmed, and stumbled, almost falling off the small metal balcony she was using to sleep. "No. She hasn't not. She feels… very alone."

"Has she eaten?"

"No, and that worries me just as much."

_She will have no true need for food for longer than the average human_, Revan knew. _She can draw on the Force to sustain her, fuelled by her emotions… she will be using the Dark Side, and not even know it. Maybe it will be easier than I thought._

He scolded himself for the thought. It would be foolish to assume this would be an easy undertaking. It would take more than one conversation.

"I'm going to speak to Leia now," he said gently, "and I would like to do so alone. Do you object?"

"She's – she's locked the door."

"I can enter, with the Force."

The girl looked concerned, the underbellies of her eyes were almost black, and deeper still. Revan would usually have paid no attention to a handmaid, but it was important that she feel safe. Leia's response to seeing her planet blown up seemed more than a display of grief, but one of a far more frightening emotion: empathy.

Despite what the name implied, it was a power the Dark Side allowed.

Her handmaid's grief would feed into her own, and her own grief would deepen that of her handmaid's; the cycle would repeat. If Revan could calm the girl, even slightly, Leia might be easier to manipulate – no, to _help_. Revan had to feel as though he was truly helping the girl. He waved his hand and the doors parted, overriding the locking mechanisms. He stepped into the room.

Leia was sitting in the window alcove, looking out at dark space. Perhaps she was thinking of her parents, it didn't matter. Revan waved his hand again and the door slid closed. "How are you, Leia?"

Leia's head snapped around. Her eyes were like deep, dark hollows, and her skin was as white as her robes. The tight buns of her hair had come undone and brown threads straggled out. She looked terrible, and frightening to behold. Anger burned inside her. Revan could feel it; as a Dark Lord of the Sith, part of him was drawn tom it. He resisted the temptation to be drawn any closer.

"I have lost my family and my home."

"We have all lost something in these past few days, Leia. They have… they have not been easy on any of us. Your handmaid – Arri, was it?" Leia nodded. "She is broken, upset."

"Perhaps she has the right to be," Leia said, though Revan felt that her anger was misplaced. "She led me to freedom whilst the rest of my family burned."

"They did not burn, Leia. The Force was disturbed by the destruction of Alderaan, but they died at once. You must have felt it to, inside you."

"What do you mean by that?" She had taken offense.

"All beings possess… innate tethers to the Force's influence. When it happened, you will have felt it. We all did. A massive wound opened up in the Force's very nature. Things like that… aren't meant to happen. They should never happen. There is a reason we are rebelling."

Leia offered one harsh laugh. "I think the rebellion is dead."

"The rebellion is not. It lives on. In you."

"In me?" She turned her head around – not excitedly, rage still simmered in her. _I have to be careful. This is the crucial issue. The most delicate part_. "How do you reason that one?"

"Leia," Revan said, walking closer and kneeling down beside her. She sat above him in the alcove, so he was looking up to her. _Subservience_, it said. _Loyalty. _"You are young. Too young to have such immense weight and burden on your shoulders, but you are needed now more than ever. Your father may be gone, and his main allies, but the Rebel Alliance lives on in the galaxy. There is a reason that troopers were not kept on one planet: that station."

Leia murmured something and looked back out the window.

"What was that?"

She looked back to Revan. "It is called the _Death Star._"

Revan shook his head. "Catchy. This death star cannot destroy every planet to save itself. A rebellion is rising, Princess. For the Graveyard of Alderaan and for the good of the Empire, it will come. Sidious and Vader will not be allowed to rule forever. They must be stopped, and executed. Both of them, with no mercy."

She nodded. "You're right, but there's nothing I can do."

"The Rebel Alliance was split into squadrons, correct?"

"Yes…"

"You know the leaders of these squadrons?"

"Most of them."

"Then you find them. We will go to each of them and raise an army. Those you don't know, the other leaders will. They will flock to your name under the standard of the Royal House of Alderaan. You will have their respect and their love, and control over them. The Supreme Commander of the Rebel Alliance."

"We have squadron leaders," she explained sharply, "because no single person is in control. A supreme commander – that is _Vader's_ title."

"Yes, you're right – but divided you will fall, together you are strong. United under a single name with a singular purpose, you will be indivisible and conquerable."

"I can follow your logic. Your reasons are true, but I would worry—"

"Don't. Trust me. Draw on your emotions and your instinct – they fuel you, give you a purpose."

"And how can I do that?"

"I can teach you."

Slowly, she lowered her legs down from the alcove and walked over to her bed, sitting on it for perhaps the first time in days. _Moving_ for the first time in days. "What will you teach me to do?"

"Use the Force. Unlock its true power, that of the Dark Side."

"What – you follow the –"

"Light does not mean good, and dark does not mean evil. They are simply words used to describe the different uses. The Light heals, the Dark fights. Old terms, and not useful… still, even I use them. Words do not frighten me, nor should they you."

"What can it do?"

"The Force? It can do… many things, Leia. I will train you, take you on my shoulders. Let your burden be divided, but not your purpose. You and I can unite together as leaders."

"I sense that you are manipulating me."

Revan shook his head. "If you feel that way, we can split apart. I will take you somewhere safe where you can live out your life happily, or we can do as your father intended. You can allow me to train and let you take the reins."

"This was my father's work?"

"He can take credit to some of it, though I'll admit that the plans will be my own design. The future can be our design."

"You were telling me what I will be able to do."

"Draw on the Force… and achieve wonders. Some say it is unnatural, but that is what people say about things they do not understand, things they fear." He stood up again and half-smiled at Leia. "Fear is a funny thing, Leia. You can use it. It is a tool. The Empire use it to great effect, but so can we – use it on _them_. The enemies. Let me train you."

"Okay."

"Battle meditation. Looking into the very future itself to strategize – and to help you with your own pain. To use your grief to fuel the fire of rebellion. That is what we must do. Let our emotions guide us; they alone know what we truly want. Long ago, there was an Order devoted to stillness and wisdom and logic and no emotion. _There is no emotion_, _there is peace. _That was what they believed…" Revan trailed off intentionally.

Like a child to bread-crumbs, she followed. "What happened to them?"

"They were the Jedi."

"My father said that–"

"I will not disagree with the Senator. Your father was a wise man, wiser than I might ever be. The Jedi taught me what I know, and then they let me make up my own mind. I will let you do the same."

"The path you lay out seems logical to me. I will let you train me."

"I will be your master, and you my apprentice."

_I am sorry, Malak. You are too wild. You will have to die._

"One last thing. You said you were taught by Jedi."

"Yes, I was."

"The Jedi are all dead, aren't they? My father told me they were all slaughtered at the command of the Emperor."

Revan smiled. "That's a story for another time."

"I still don't know if I can trust you."

Revan nodded. "Good. Use that. Just know that the truth will come to you in full time."

Leia straightened up, her eyes alert. They were not deep and vacant anymore. They were alert. "You admit that you are not telling me the full truth?"

Revan laughed, a real laugh. "Leia," he said, "if I told you the full story, you'd have no reason to stay with me."


	7. New Dynamics

**Author's Note: **Hello! Welcome to another chapter. I hope you enjoy this one - I knew what I had to write, and I did it. Sorry it took me a few days; I've been a little busy for the past few days with other projects and things. Expect another update soon, and don't forget to review!

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**NEW DYNAMICS**

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Revan could find Malak nowhere.

He had sent probes across the surface of Nar Shaddaa days ago, and so far they had found nothing. No traces of Dark Side energies were found on the planet, which Revan at first found to be suspect, but on closer inspection found that it was not unusual. The Great Jedi Purge had been more than absolute: all relics had been removed from view, nothing remained of them that people discussed. _Treacherous and treasonous warriors._

In truth, Revan did not fully know how he felt about this; the Jedi Order had been his home in the past, but he had come to accept they were stale and foolish. A purge was needed. He might even have done the same thing. Still, when he would kill Sidious, he would call it justice, whether it was or not.

"Do you worry?"

Revan snapped from his daze and turned. Leia was standing on the other side of the observation deck whilst he looked at the computers he'd set up below the window that overlooked Nar Shaddaa. She sat herself down at the desk.

"Worry? About what?"

"About your friend. What was his name?"

"_Alek_," Revan said, and checked the screen once more. _Still nothing. _He was checking more often than perhaps he ought to. "His name is Alek."

"Alek," she repeated. "Do you think he will come back soon, or maybe something has happened to him?"

Revan turned away from the computers and walked to Leia, sitting down across from her. She'd showered and her hair fell around her shoulders now rather than being tied up in tight, circular buns. "No, Malak can take care of himself. I don't think he's in any trouble."

"Then where could he be?"

"I do not know, but it's not the last we will see of him."

"As an ally?"

Revan mustered a weak smile.

"When will my training be complete?"

"We haven't even started. It can take a long time. There is nothing that can make it pass easy, Leia. You will struggle more than you ever did in your time on privileged Alderaan." Brutal honesty was a trait that Revan had decided to adopt; she could not feel like his superior, for that was not the nature of the master-apprentice dynamic. She had to submit herself to him. There was no other way.

"I am willing to start."

"We can start with the basics. I sense that your skill will not be in fighting, no. You are a diplomat, no?"

She nodded. "Fighting is not the way to do it."

"No," Revan said, "but anger is. You can let rage fill you without raging. I know this to be true. A lightsaber is a powerful weapon, but do not think one is required to be a true Sith. No, that is a more complicated path."

"Then what do I need to do?"

"You have to close your eyes. You have to feel the Force around you."

"What _is_ the Force?"

Revan sighed deeply. "It is… _complicated._"

"A summary will do."

"There is no summary to the Force, Leia. It is a power, a field that surrounds us. It lets us use our abilities, it lets us _survive. Live. _Move, walk. The Force is more than the sum of its parts; it is the dark and the light, the unifying Force and the living Force."

"Like some kind of god?"

"It depends on who you ask. Some would have it that the Force acts out its will to bring about a balance." _And that is why it has brought me here, to bring about the balance of this future. There is too much darkness, and I am the light. _True enough, Revan was an agent of the dark side, but he believed in the light; he knew its potential and its use. He would not dismiss it as a weak form. In fact, the first thing he meant to teach Leia was to wield the light… through the dark. "Tell me, what do you know of the Force?"

"Nothing. I know what my father told me of the old Jedi Order."

"And what was that?"

A glazed look came over Leia's eyes, as though she was imagining something long ago, something that instilled her with a sense of nostalgia Revan could not imagine. "You will remember more than I will. I was young when the last died, though it's said there are still some out there."

That caught Revan's attention. "Who?"

"I only know of one."

"_Who?_"

"Obi-Wan Kenobi."

"Do you know this Knight is?"

"I think so."

Revan got to his feet. "Come with me."

Revan led Leia out of the main deck and down a flight of stairs, into the base training centre. It was a small room emptied of anything else that he had used to meditate (to no real result). Now, he thought there might be a purpose. In the centre of the floor he sat down and crossed his legs.

"Do as I do, and take my hand."

"Why?"

Revan said nothing, but she joined him, and took his hand. "What are we doing?"

"Close your eyes. Let the dark side flow through me and into you. Think of Vader's face. He that ordered the destruction of your planet, the slaughter of your people." Revan squeezed her hand some, and he could feel a heat coming off her. _She is powerful_. "I want you to remember them. Feel the hatred, draw it from inside you… Do you feel it?"

"Yes."

"Now See with the Force, not with your eyes. See this room, and me burning bright in it, pulsing, pulsing, pulsing…"

"I see you. You pulse… darkness…"

"Now turn your Eye outwards. Turn it to Obi-Wan Kenobi, the Jedi Knight. Where is he? Do you see him?"

There was a heavy, pregnant pause. Revan could not attest to what the princess was experiencing, but he was letting the dark flow through him and into her. Rage _was_ filling her; just and righteous anger at the loss of her families, pain and suffering filling her. She wasn't shunning it like the Sith Lord had suspected she might; Leia was welcoming it. _What is she seeing?_

"Share it with me. Share the Sight."

"How?" she asked, her eyes still closed.

"Let your Eye be seen in the Force, not just in your mind. Anywhere. I will find it."

"Okay."

_She is a natural to know what that means, _Revan thought. He felt a ripple run between them, like a wall blocking one wave in a thousand, but he locked in on it. The world twisted around him and he closed his eyes, moving at the speed of the Force through space, faster than any shuttle could take them, faster than light itself...

Wide plains of yellow desert stretched out for miles, in the distance only the clear blue sky could be seen, two suns hung in the sky. He knew the planet and the place, somewhere, but the name escaped him. A small dome, someone's home, burned out beyond recognition. On one side, a tall man in black stood. On the other, a man in brown robes, the robes of the Jedi Order.

Between them, a boy.

Revan could not hear what words they spoke; he could see them through the Force, but sound did not come. He tried to probe at them and failed. _They are too far_, he knew. Planets away, maybe even systems away… Violently, he twisted into Leia's power and felt her quiver at his side, then tried to probe again.

_Malak_, he knew. _One of these others must be Obi-Wan Kenobi. _

The old Jedi Knight walked towards the young man in the centre, but Malak staggered him backwards. The old Knight was powerful, but his power was reserved. He was speaking, though Revan could not tell what he said. _Leia is watching this too. I may need to think of something to explain this. Will she know this is Malak? Will I tell her?_

The young boy looked back at the small, domed house, burned and ruined. Bodies lay broken upon its entrance, an old man and woman. _Parents?_ He held his hand out towards Malak and into his hand Malak placed something. With purpose, the boy stepped towards the other man and raised it up, a blade of red…

Malak's hand rose and stopped the old Knight moving for his own weapon, and the young boy cut down the old Jedi Knight—

Revan and Leia were thrust back to their bodies with all the abruptness of a punch to the face.

Leia's nose was bleeding badly all over the white of her clothes, splattering them with red. Revan paid no attention to that; he was staring off, thinking about what he had seen. "Go clean yourself up," he said. "We'll speak on what we've seen soon."

She hesitated and then hurried off.

_Can it be that he has a new apprentice?_

_The artefact!_

Revan moved to his feet after Leia's footsteps had faded into the distance and rushed to the chest he kept locked. He reached into the lock with the Force and it clicked open; inside lay a battle robes imbued with the dark side, but the Sith artefact they'd retrieved from Dromund Kaas was gone. _He has used it and found himself someone. Another person, skilled in the Force, someone trainable, to stand up against myself and Leia…_

_But how could he find them so quickly?_

Revan poured over all he had said. He remembered the object, but it went further than that. Malak would not have made a move against his master without some assurance of power, even if he were angered. A dog wouldn't have been as careless as that, but true enough, there were times when Malak's temperament was ever fouler than that of a common, kickable dog. Only one question remained: how? The object itself was not enough.

_Leia? Is she linked to this?_

No, Revan thought and dismissed it at once. Malak had no interaction with the girl, though she and the boy were of similar ages. He would have to ask her about him later, it might come to pass that she knew him. The old man must have been Obi-Wan Kenobi – a Jedi Knight in the past tense, slain at the hand of a boy. _That will only serve to fuel an ego._

Could Malak have been so manipulative? The blackened corpses and home seemed to infer that the Sith Apprentice had done something, but it did not seem in Malak's character; skilfully manipulating took a long time. _Could he have been concealing a part of himself from me? _No, Revan dismissed that out of hand too. There was no need to consider that as an option; the Master _knew_ the apprentice.

_No, he is no an apprentice anymore. He is a master, I must approach this with a great sense of caution._

Finding out the identity of the boy would be important; he would have to look into this planet. Sand plains, a blue sky, two suns. _Tatooine_, he knew at once. Never had Revan visited the planet – he had made an active attempt of avoiding sandy hellscapes – but it seemed that would have to change soon. Leia might be able to latch onto the location in her mind, perhaps she knows more or less where it was.

If they were quick, the residue left over from the brutal murder of a Jedi Knight will still be there. Revan closed the chest and walked up the stairs and back to the main deck, where he saw Leia coming down the stairs at the same time.

"Are you alright?"

She nodded. "I'm fine. Who were they?"

"The one in black was Alek. Did you know either of the others?"

"The old one," she said. "Obi-Wan. I can't be completely certain, but I am fairly certain."

Revan nodded. "They were on Tatooine."

"Where?"

"A desert planet in the Outer Rim territories. Are they ruled by the Hutts?"

Leia nodded. "You don't know that?"

"It's been some time since I last visited the area. The Black Sun cartel?" She nodded. "We'll have to be careful, I think, but we may learn things by visiting there. I can teach you as we go."

"In the Force?" Revan nodded and moved to the main window once again. "I don't think going to those sectors is such a wise idea."

"I disagree. Are there rebel squadron leaders in the Outer Rim, anywhere at all?"

Leia nodded. "Yes. One of them."

"Who?"

Leia hesitated briefly, but then continued, "Mon Mothma. She is on the run from imperial forces now, after declaring herself in open rebellion… if only she knew of the Death Star's power, she would not have done so with little thought."

"Is she intelligent?"

"Yes, very. She is loyal and true to the old republic."

_Then she is an enemy_, Revan thought. "The old republic… we will see what we can do, when we speak to her. We will seek her out."

Leia nodded.

"And I need to ask one more favour of you, Leia. Dismiss Arri."

"My handmaid? But she is—"

"—only going to get in the way of our plans. Do you want to see her dead? I did not think so – you must be careful here, it is vital. She is a friend to you, and one day you may return to her, but until then she is only going to try to rebel against your choices. This is no fault of hers – it is her duty to keep you safe. _Now you must keep her safe._"

Leia hung her head for a few moments, just thinking. "Okay," she said, eventually.

"We will drop her on a planet of your choosing if it is your wish, or on Nar Shaddaa. Pick one, and then we make for Tatooine."

"Yes, Revan."

Revan had told her his name, but she had not responded to it like he thought she might. There may come a time where he would confide the truth in her, but for now it would only serve to complicate things.

"Master," Revan said.

"What?"

"I am not Revan to you, Leia. I am your master. That is the nature of our relationship; the master, and the apprentice."

She narrowed her eyes. "And will I one day be the master?"

Revan smiled. "That depends on how clever you are."


	8. Fire in Her Heart

**Author's Note: **I just want to thank you guys a lot for continuing to message me about the story. It's been a while between this update and the last (it would have been a month today), but I promise there won't be that kind of absence again. I'm excited to hear what you've thought about it so far, so keep leaving reviews, messaging me. It's really great to have a readership that are active and want to be involved in an open dialogue, which every story (to an extent) is! So thanks to everyone for reading. Without any more putting it off, here is the chapter. It's big enough already without my bloated author's note making it worse.

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**FIRE IN HER HEART**

* * *

"If she is hesitant, it is you who must bring her around to see our side. Without her, this is a feeble plight. That's not what I want for us."

"Oh? And what do you want for us?"

A smile broke out across Revan's face. "You don't need to ask me that. You know the answer."

Out of the hangar bay, the full visage of Alaspin spread out before them. Spires rose high, set against a dark purple sky. From them beacons glowed to warn ships not to come too close lest they be burned from the sky. Casino towers looped and swirled in spirals and arcs, lights glowing from them. The planet glimmered with all the glory of Coruscant from a distance, without the distaste close-up.

This was a planet at war with itself, but it was a war without weapons.

"Hello there, Mister and Mrs Edorius. I'm Lieutenant Sergeant Derbin of the Meziah district, here to help you. Tourists, yes?"

"Yes," Revan said, nodding. The human male wore standard combat armour; in a fight, it would do little to protect him from the heat of battle or the shock of a blaster, but it looked pretty enough. That would be its purpose; a symbolic representation of the idea of war. The Empire's reach did not come this far in the world. "Come to visit the casinos. We've heard there is a lot to behold."

The man's hands went to his hips. He stood cockily, and shrugged, grinning. "We are small planet, but proud to be the brightest light in the sky. At least from Tellos!" He laughed, as though Revan should know what that meant. It was Leia who laughed then, and Revan smiled at that – she was an adept manipulator. A natural.

_I will have to be even more vigilant around her, at all times. _

"I am wondering," Leia said, "if you know where I can find the B-Wing-Zero Casino? I've heard wonderful things about it. Just wonderful."

Derbin's eyes furrowed a little, and inside of him, something stirred. Revan reached out with the Force and felt it: worry, perhaps? He couldn't be sure, but there was certainly some resistance. That he was sure of. Just when he was about to reach out again with the Force and trickle some persuasion along him, the man relaxed. Like a band about to snap, and then let go, the pressure released.

Revan looked over at his apprentice; a smile was playing on her lips – threatening to appear but not quite doing so. Her eyes did not move away from Derbin. "Something wrong?" she asked.

"No, no. Nothing at all. I worried a little that maybe it wouldn't be so suited to a fine lady, such as yourself. Almost royalty, from the look of you! No. No problems. I'll arrange a taxi now." His fingers fumbled with a device mounted on his wrist.

"Is there anything strange about the place?"

"Strange? No. Of all the casinos, though – there are better ones, naturally. For the true Alaspin experience, I would have offered up different options: the Republican Tower, the Vongwar, the Lekku Starlight... All of them more suited to a lady – and gentleman, of course, sir – of fineness."

Revan had found his robes in the shuttle. A diplomat's, black and slashed with white, but it hadn't taken more than a minute to purge the Alderaanian sigils from the shoulder pads and front. It fell down to his knees. His trousers were black too, and his boots. Leia had refused to relinquish her white, sweeping robes, though her haircut had to change. There was a certain level of anonymity that Revan demanded, and it was a part of it.

The Empire might not rule out here, but no doubt its agents would come this far if they had to. And they would not wear the galactic logo on their chests. They would shrink into the crowd and watch from a distance. All the Force would tell Revan was that someone was watching him, and he felt that every few minutes.

In the past Revan could tell when someone thought too hard about him. Force adepts, mostly, but recently that had changed. If the Force were a cloud, then a knife had slit through it opened a wound. Though he did not know all of it, he harboured his suspicions: thoughts from all of time.

A foolish thought, perhaps, he thought, watching as a taxi came around. In the front seat was a droid. Its head rotated and grinned – frightening and off-puttingly. "Here you are then." Derbin moved to the side and stairs fell down. Leia ascended them first, and Revan followed. They sat in the back seat. "Enjoy your stay in Alaspin!"

The taxi lifted from the ground and rushed off. Cool, night air washed over the two of them as they breezed. In the distance, ships were landing close to the central city's centre, something that confused Revan, but he tried not to think too much of it. Ships came and went, did they not?

"Tell me more about her," Revan said. Leia had been looking at the ships too, Revan thought. Her eyes were on the distant brightness and the shadows above the city.

"Mon Mothma?"

"Yes."

"She is intelligent and bright, and unyielding. My father fought her many times, though they were always on the same side. She won the battles and declared herself in an open rebellion against the Emperor, against the _Empire. _They declared her a traitor."

"As she was?"

Their eyes met briefly. "Palpatine was the traitor. The traitor to the Old Republic. Mon Mothma is loyal and true."

_There is fire inside her still, from the death of all Alderaan. _"What was the Republic like before this all?"

Leia shrugged. "I don't know, Revan. Inquisitors from the Emperor came to the palace too often to search our files. More than once they took things too – usually old relics or information my father was keeping. Nothing forbidden." She sighed, then ran a hand across her face. "I never thought he would have the nerve to do it. I always thought… my father _always said_ that it would be better to keep us as the royal family, as the senator, instead of killing."

"He is powerful," Revan said, "but not power enough. He will fall, I swear to you."

She nodded, and the rest of the way was silence. They descended near the outskirts of the B-Wing Casino. A giant mass the likes that Revan could only liken to the lower levels of Coruscant. Sure, the lights were pretty enough – red danced with blue close to them, then red with red, then green and red. The lights fluttered and danced, splitting the words clearly and concisely: **B-WING CASINOS**. Over them, a model ship. More rounded than Revan had seen before.

"And she is inside?"

"Last I heard, yes. She might have moved. We should have called ahead."

Revan hadn't been willing to play his cards then. The leader had be near them for the plan to work fully. A few times Leia had said her will was strong, resolute, and Revan only hoped that was not the case. A strong mind would prove difficult to overcome through the Force, not without alerting her. Revealing himself as a Dark Lord of the Sith to Leia had been something he'd worried over, and now… if there was even a slight inkling of distrust towards him inside her, she had an avenue of escape. He'd brought her somewhere where she was royalty again.

_This will be more dangerous than facing Vader was. If Malak has truly found himself an apprentice and slain the Kenobi Jedi, then he is marshalling strength. I cannot let this continue. _

"Calling in would have been a bad move – you know this. Transmissions can be intercepted, decoded, listened, read. All by ears and eyes that are not Mon Mothma. We must find her, and her alone."

Leia nodded. Appealing to someone by telling them _they know _something always increased the chance of them responding well… but was Leia dull enough to fall for such tactics? Revan doubted it, but his message _was _valid regardless of delivery.

They made their way out of the parking area and down a set of silver stairs. Guards moved around, blasters attached to their belts. People exited and entered the casino, laughing on one another's arms. Along the way a small garden held people sitting on small benches made for two. Different species mingling with such casual cosmopolitan grace – Revan didn't know what to think. The world was so entirely different, and yet so much the same. _How could this be a thousand years in the future? How?_

At the door there two humans – one male, the other female. He was old with trusting eyes and what Revan took to be an expanding belly. The woman was slender and blonde; a picture of human beauty. It took Revan half a second to know why she had been chosen to stand at the doors of the casino: her lips said no but her eyes said yes, and they met in the middle for a great big Maybe, and that's where the trouble always started.

"Hello there, guests!" the man said, clapping his hands together.

The woman stepped forward with open arms, smiling. Her robes were fitting, but cut away at her sides, exposing skin. "Welcome to the B-Wing Casino and Hotel. We're currently in a state of lockdown. Do you have any identification as agents of the—?"

Revan waved a hand in front of her, and then the man. "Yes, we do. You will let us inside, won't you?"

Their eyes rolled around, glazed, and then they seemed to find themselves. With a remarkably bright passion, the woman said, "Why yes! We've been expecting you. Would you like a guide once inside?"

"No."

"Super!"

The doors opened, and Revan moved inside first. He glanced back and saw Leia following, though she was looking at the woman. "Is something wrong?" Revan asked, once they were out of earshot and the doors had closed.

"Women exposing themselves so nonchalantly. It's like they are slaves."

"I have no doubt both of them will be slaves – pretty girls don't hang around unless bound to the belly of a beast," Revan said, then smiled. Inside, the gamblers raged and screamed. Some laughed, ecstatic, others cried and slammed their fists on droids. The air was alive with smooth music that rose up past the first floor, and the second, and the third… Revan couldn't see where it ended, in truth.

"And you know where she is?"

"More or—oh god."

Across the way, he saw them: white armour and holding large blasters. None of them stood at this door because they were on the other side of the hall. Revan made to turn, but the footsteps were there. At his side. "STOP!"

Revan halted, and pressed a hand on Leia's shoulder. He lowered himself a little to favour his right leg. Then, in broken Basic, said, "I am gamble, no?"

The stormtrooper raised his gun a little, pointing it at Revan. At this close, Leia would be powerless, but she was not Revan. A thought broke the firing mechanism inside the blaster, though the trooper was oblivious. "Sir, this casino is out of bounds under the authority of the Galactic Empire."

"Wha – no empire on this planet, no?"

"His Royal Highness has seen to it than the borders of the Galactic Empire should extend. Follow me."

"Where?"

"No more questions."

Revan and Leia shared a cursory blank glance.

Leia's asked: _Will you kill him?_

His answered: _Not yet._

The trooper took them to an elevator, and they made their way up. Revan looked down at the casino's denizens again, this time under a new light: they were pathetic. Their land had been invaded by a foreign body, and they were doing nothing. Devastated at the loss of a few meagre credits. _No sight for the bigger picture. _

Dimly, Revan became aware of the feeling of a hand reaching towards his waist; Leia trying to reach for his sabre. He looked to her and shook his head. From behind: "Eyes front."

"You're going to tell us why we are here," Leia said suddenly, whirling. The trooper's blaster rifle came up quick, but Revan anticipated it. His shoved his palm hard against it, breaking the trooper's arm. It screamed out and Revan pulled his helmet off, to stop him calling for assistance.

The Dark Lord opened his mouth to command the trooper again, but he felt the Force stirring – not from himself, but from Leia. She had seen it done enough times to recognise how to do it. A quick learner, it seemed. _Yes_, he thought again. _She is the apprentice I need for this brewing war – not Malak. _

"We are here to find and interrogate the – arghhh – rebel leader! The last of the dissidents!"

"The last of them?" Leia asked. Revan had to stop a smile forming on his face. If the trooper's inference was true…

"By order of His Royal Highness the Emperor, the senate is dissolved and the known leaders are to be captured and disposed of with one exception – the leader here. _Mon Mothma_, and her family."

_They are all dead. The only obstacle between me and the resources of the Rebel Alliances is the life of Mon Mothma. _

"Do you mean to kill her?" Revan asked, feigning disgust. For half a moment, Leia's eyes flitted up to the Dark Lord, but they didn't hold their long. Did she know why he was asking, or was she simply thinking he was truly disgusted? As far as the princess knew, he needed Mon Mothma… but it wasn't true at all.

_All I need is Leia. A pretty face with royal blood, the daughter of a martyr. Enough to incite a red rebellion. _

Revan was not naïve enough to think that this would only be a war between the four Dark Lords of the Sith: as it stood, the Emperor had the advantage. Legions behind him, an army, a trained general. A hundred thousand fire kais could kill a rancor. Bringing a rebellion under his heel would be instrumental in the downfall of the Empire, and the raising of a new one. From the ashes. Revan wondered how Leia would fit into that picture.

It might take a long time for her to realise the truth: that a republic is always doomed to die. The histories had been obscured by imperial propaganda, but he had found enough knowledge to know that as the truth.

"No... Our orders are to – bring her – alive."

"Why her when all the others are simple meeting death?"

"I-I don't know."

Leia's hands went for the rifle and tugged it away from the trooper. Sinew and bone snapped as was taken from his grasp. He pointed it directly at the trooper's head. "Who ordered the destruction of Alderaan?"

"Two – the Grand Moff Tarkin, and _him. _He is here… for her."

"Who?" Leia asked, slamming the rifle into his forehead. "TELL ME!" The elevator was rising faster now – Revan pushed at a button and changed its course, further up.

The old Jedi in Revan said: _Calm her down, Revan. You can feel the rage beside her, swirling, storm-like. Do not like it consume her now. It is too soon. Without training, it will burn the flesh away from her bones. _

But the Dark Lord pushed the thoughts away. She had to learn to control it, but with no intervention now. That was her responsibility as an apprentice, and she would be his. He knew it as surely as he knew the answer the trooper was about to call.

"Lord Vader!"

Leia's finger tightened on the trigger, and pulled, unleashing a barrage of red, red, red into the trooper's head. The burns flared up, then burst, and then the flesh began to drop. He would have been dead on one, but Leia went for six. Seven. Eight. Nine. Ten. Then, when the rifle was finally overheating, she dropped it. Blood spattered her white dress, and her face.

"He's here," Leia said. Her face, flushed, and sweat was leaking from her brow. "Can you kill him? Vader?"

Revan was sure he could defeat the Sith Lord, but he didn't want to. In the event that Leia failed to live up to his expectations – and Revan was preparing for any and every eventuality – he would need to seek out a new apprentice. Though Vader could never be one, any Force-sensitive could offer a trail to a new one.

In any case, the Dark Lord had sensed something different about Vader: his armour made him weak, yes, but underneath the black the Sith Lord had power. Suddenly, Revan remembered the deep breathing noises it made. What was the suits purposes? Sith Lords of old used dark alchemy to imbue their heavy armours with strength, and that might be why Revan could rarely sense his presence without seeing him, but there had to be more to it.

"I could."

"Then you will."

Revan shook his head. "No. I won't. Not now."

The elevator came to a halt on the top floor, where Revan expected Mothma to be. Carefully, he moved outside: a small legion of stormtroopers congregated around a door. Revan reached out with the Force as Leia said, "They destroyed my _home_!"

"And they will destroy many more, but I won't risk losing you – not here. I won't risk losing Mothma – not here. You are the leaders of the Rebel Alliance. You are the figures people will rally behind when you cry out for their assistance. If I attack Vader, and even if I succeed, I will not be able to slaughter every trooper with a communicator. The outside will come, perhaps with the station. The _Death Star_. It's not worth it, not for the death of Vader. This other one – Tarkin. Would you die for only his death?"

Leia was silent, but defiant. He could reach out with the Force, but a part of him worried she might feel it, beat it away. If he were too gentle, the effect would be negligible. If too forceful, she would resent him. She might ruin it all then and there.

_It seems I do not trust her_, Revan thought. _And that is the way it should be._

The Princess with fire in her heart was apprenticed to a Dark Lord of the Sith, whether she had internalised it or not. The two were at odds now: one day, she might want to overthrow him. That would not happen.

"What do we do now?" she asked, at last.

Relieved, Revan sighed. "We have to see what he is doing, but we will not enter the room."

"Can he feel us – in the _Force?_"

She said it as though it was something she did not fully understand, though she had been using it. Perhaps even her whole life without knowing. For one so young… Revan tried not to smile. "No. I've wrapped us in nothing. He will not feel us."

"Does it tire you?"

"Not unless I do it for a long time. There are troopers out there – a dozen, maybe more. We need a way onto the roof. Sadly the elevator only goes so far up… Killing them is a last resort." Moving back to the far side of the elevator, he peered down into the lobby for anything that might help. Stormtroopers were rounding gamblers up and forcing them into the corners. Groups of them hovered around them, rifles aimed directly. _Where was this one going to take us? _he wondered.

Drawing his lightsaber would be foolish. He moved out into the corridor, telling Leia to wait, and called out. The stormtroopers turned, and raised their blasters. They were not ready for what came next.

This is what happened:

Revan hurled himself up through the air, coiling and winding in a display of Force-fuelled agility. All of them, no doubt frightened and terrified, did not even have time to unleash a bolt. He fell to the floor a few feet away from them and Pushed, hand to the floor. A concentrated burst: short, quick. Their feet were lifted off the ground and their blasters fell away from them. It was enough to knock all of them out, but not enough to attract attention.

Revan opened a door further down the hall – an apartment. Wide, sweeping views to outside and a glass roof. Spacious, sleek, silver and red and blue. He stretched his hand out, and with one great motion, began to pull every unconscious body towards him. Two at a time, three at a time, he filtered them in through the door without their weapons. Those went into another room.

Leia was standing in the corridor now, watching Revan, her face, unreadable. "He is in there," she said after a moment, then nodded towards a room.

"How do you know?"

She shrugged. Her eyes seemed dead-like. "I just know. I can feel him."

Revan pointed towards the next room over. "In there." It was locked, but the Force made short work of that. Inside: a well-made, empty bed. A mini-bar in the corner of the room. Bare, cold floors. But none of these things interested Revan: he looked up, at the glass roof, and then produced his lightsaber.

"Is the door closed?" he asked.

Leia tried to heave it open. "Yes."

The crimson blade thrummed up from the hilt. He had to stand on the bed to gain the height necessary to cut a circle out which they could climb; the glass fell on the bed silently. Revan thought the Force must be the smiling on them to allow such cool weather. He extinguished the blade. "Do you want to come?" he asked.

Leia grunted, as though it were obvious. "Yes."

"You don't have to."

"I do, and I will."

Revan nodded, then jumped, pushing his hands out of the circle and hoisting himself through. Lying on his stomach, he reached down and pulled Leia out. The city appeared before them: they were at the top of what they now saw was a relatively small-sized building. "A nice view," Revan said, but Leia didn't pay him any attention. She lowered down onto her stomach, and began to crawl slowly. He did the same, catching up quickly.

Soon, they saw it. Through the glass the dark shape facing away from them. Armour black as night. His lightsaber at his side, gripped tightly, but not lit. The two of them stopped moving to listen, but his words, deep though they may be, were muffled, like distant vibrations. On the other side of the room was a woman dressed all in light brown. Her hair was short, but – even near Vader – she stood tall. Defiance.

Mon Mothma.

Vader raised a fist and moved towards her, but she did not back away. There was nothing to intimidate. Revan admired her, despite never hearing her voice. He hoped he never had to. Some stormtroopers were against the window, just below Revan. On the other side of the room, Mon Mothma stood close to a rifle. He wondered if she'd considering using it, but it stood too openly. From dying here, she had nothing to gain.

_But I have everything. _

Even from a distance, Revan could feel Darth Vader probing at her mind. He lacked tact, Revan thought. Forcing a person to commit actions they would not usually do required manipulation, not brute force. The trick was to do things they were capable of doing.

"Can you hear them?"

"No," Revan said. "Can you?"

"No. Is there no way to… use the Force?"

"I don't want to risk exposing us. If I reach out, Vader might feel it. All he need do is turn around, Leia, and he will see us. Don't be reckless." Revan could feel it churning inside her, like a sickness, but she wasn't letting the acid-hate eat away at her like so many did. Still, she said nothing.

They watched for a little while longer, and then Vader Pushed her against the wall. Her head seemed to slam hard, but not enough to knock her out. Enraged, Vader made his way out the room and boomed orders to the troopers behind her. "Bring the traitor to the shuttle, and then scour this place for evidence."

The doors slid closed after he left.

The Stormtroopers began to advance on her. Revan looked towards Leia, whose eyes were set on the situation. She thought maybe there was something to do; Revan could tell. But they couldn't intervene. His eyes fell on the troopers, but they would not attack her. Not when Vader told them to.

_But the instinct to survive is powerful_, Revan thought.

The Force moved from Revan to Mon Mothma. It was all within her capacity. Nothing that was about to happen was strange. The woman was a rebel, after all. Why would she succumb to an easy death?

Her hand came up and reached for her blaster. She pulled on the trigger and began to swing it around, the red line cutting down the first trooper, but there were more, more that she couldn't get to on time. Their blasters fired into her chest quick and hard. Revan's eyes widened, with surprise at how well it had worked, but he closed his eyes hard and looked down, as though he'd lost something. As though this hadn't worked well, and he was one step closer to having what he needed.

When he opened his eyes, Leia was not crying. Her head was not buried in her hands. She was simply staring at him.

Her mouth said nothing, but her eyes said: _I know what you did, and I will make you suffer for it. _

Then, she turned away and silently made her way back to the hole, in a way that seemed to add: _One day._


End file.
